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Robotic Spacecraft (Astronomy, Planetary, Earth, Solar/Heliophysics) => Space Science Coverage => Topic started by: jacqmans on 04/12/2007 03:12 am

Title: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 04/12/2007 03:12 am: Rob Gutro April 11, 2007
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-4044

RELEASE NO. 07-12

NASA’S GLAST MISSION ONE STEP CLOSER TO LAUNCH

NASA’s next major space observatory, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), is one step closer to unveiling the mysteries of the high-energy universe. Almost all the components have been assembled onto the spacecraft, which will undergo a review this week before environmental testing begins at the primary contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz.

GLAST will study the universe’s most extreme objects, observing physical processes far beyond the capabilities of earthbound laboratories. GLAST’s main instrument, the Large Area Telescope (LAT), operates like a particle detector rather than a conventional telescope. It is 30 times more sensitive (and even more at higher energies) than the best previous missions, enabling it to detect thousands of new gamma-ray sources while extending our knowledge of previously unidentified sources. For example, it will study how some black holes accelerate matter to near light speed and perhaps even reveal the nature of dark matter. The other instrument, the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), will detect roughly 200 gamma-ray bursts per year. Together with the LAT, the GBM will enable GLAST to make gamma-ray burst observations spanning a factor of a million in energy.

"These two instruments and the spacecraft have now been integrated and are working together as a single observatory," says GLAST project manager Kevin Grady of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

"The observatory is getting ready for the final testing in the simulated environment of space, so that any problems can be fixed to ensure that it will work when we launch it," adds Kathleen Turner, the LAT program manager at the United States Department of Energy, in Germantown, Md. The Department of Energy helped build the LAT in collaboration with other institutions in the United States, France, Italy, Japan, and Sweden. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., built the GBM in collaboration with institutes in Germany.

On April 11 and 12, 2007, an independent committee of scientists and engineers commissioned by NASA will conduct a Pre-Environmental Review (PER). This committee, chaired by Mark Goans of NASA Goddard, has been monitoring the development of the mission over the past four years. This review is expected to last two days, and will make sure that all technical problems and anomalies have been resolved, and that the 4.7-ton spacecraft is ready to be "shake and baked."

Following the PER, environmental testing will begin. Each individual subsystem has already passed its own round of environmental testing, but this new set of procedures will make sure that the integrated observatory can survive the rigors of launch and the harsh conditions of space.

In the first test, called the Electro-Magnetic Interference test, operators will bombard the spacecraft with electromagnetic radiation to ensure that certain systems do not produce signals that interfere with other systems. As project scientist Steve Ritz of NASA Goddard explains, "If electrical noise from your beating heart causes a problem with your brain, you’d want to know about it."

Next, GLAST will undergo mechanical tests, which involves exposure to vibrations, shocks, and acoustic waves. The vibration test will make certain the entire spacecraft can survive the shaking of a Delta II Heavy rocket launch. With the tall spacecraft being shaken from its base, some of the appendages will be exposed to accelerations up to 15 times the force of Earth’s gravity. The shock test ensures it can survive separation from the booster. The acoustic test examines if the craft can survive the terrific roar of a Delta II launch. Engineers will bombard the spacecraft with up to about 144 decibels of noise, louder than being in close proximity to a jet aircraft.

Finally, the team will subject GLAST to the Thermal-Vacuum test, which checks the spacecraft’s ability to withstand the vacuum of space and the extreme temperature swings it will experience as it goes in and out of sunlight during each orbit. This procedure will last about six weeks, the longest of all the environmental tests.

In mid-October, GLAST is scheduled to be flown to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on a C5 airplane. The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched into a low-Earth circular orbit no earlier than Dec. 14, 2007.

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

For more information on GLAST, please visit on the Web:

http://glast.gsfc.nasa.gov

-end
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission December 14, 2007
Post by: jacqmans on 11/30/2007 01:41 pm: RELEASE 07-73

NASA'S GLAST SATELLITE ARRIVES AT NAVAL RESEARCH LAB FOR TESTING

GREENBELT, Md. - NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) has arrived at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, for its final round of testing.

The GLAST spacecraft has successfully completed two of its three environmental tests at the prime contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz. These tests included exposure to extreme vibrations and electromagnetic fields. "We’ve completed two of the big three tests, and now we’re going to the NRL to perform the third," said GLAST project manager Kevin Grady of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

On November 26, the spacecraft began its drive across the country in a specially modified truck. GLAST arrived at NRL on November 28. At NRL, the spacecraft will undergo thermal and vacuum testing to ensure that it can survive the 90-degree F (50-degree C) temperature swings it will experience in Earth orbit.

"Although gamma rays can travel billions of light-years across the universe, they can’t penetrate Earth’s atmosphere, so we must launch our instruments into space. We need to ensure the observatory can function in the space environment, and that is the main goal of the testing about to take place," says GLAST project scientist Steve Ritz of NASA Goddard.

After GLAST finishes the thermal-vac testing, it will be trucked or flown to Cape Canaveral, Fla. There, the solar arrays and flight battery will be added to the spacecraft, and it will be fueled with propellant. The launch, aboard a Delta II Heavy rocket, is scheduled for no earlier than May 29, 2008.

GLAST will carry two instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), to study the extreme universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything scientists can achieve in their most elaborate experiments on Earth. GLAST may answer the mystery of how black holes accelerate jets of particles to near-light speed, and it may fill in gaps in our knowledge of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

The LAT, which works like a particle detector rather than a conventional telescope, greatly improves upon all previous gamma-ray instruments. It is more than 30 times as sensitive to faint sources, it covers a much broader range of gamma-ray wavelengths, it can locate sources much more precisely, and it can measure the arrival time of each gamma ray more accurately.

"With the LAT we will be able to pinpoint locations in the universe where matter is accelerated to extremely high-energies, shedding new light on the origin of cosmic rays," says LAT principal investigator Peter Michelson of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. "We will also observe neutron stars and learn how they produce their lighthouse-like particle beams. The LAT will help astronomers determine the nature of hundreds of gamma-ray sources seen by previous missions, but whose nature remains shrouded in mystery. Most exciting of all, the LAT will find thousands of previously unknown gamma-ray sources."

"We expect that the GBM will detect about 200 GRBs per year," said GBM principal investigator Charles "Chip" Meegan of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "With the LAT and GBM working together, and with other satellites, we hope to understand how the gamma rays are actually produced in GRBs, and whether GRBs create high-energy gamma rays that were beyond the range of previous satellites."

From its perch in low-Earth orbit, GLAST will also test key concepts in fundamental physics, such as whether all forms of light — regardless of wavelength — travel at the same speed. It might help physicists determine the nature of dark matter by catching the gamma-ray signature of dark-matter particles annihilating one another. It might even detect gamma rays from exploding black holes.

NASA’s GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

For more information about the GLAST mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/GLAST
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission 29 May 2008
Post by: William Graham on 11/30/2007 04:22 pm: Launch is now scheduled for 29 May 2008 (NET).
Title: RE: Delta II/GLAST - 16 May 2008
Post by: William Graham on 12/16/2007 08:09 am: It has now been moved up to 16 May 2008 (although this does cause a range conflict with Delta IV-H/NRO L-26, currently scheduled for 15 May).
Title: RE: Delta II/GLAST - 16 May 2008
Post by: Analyst on 12/16/2007 09:10 am: Quote
GW_Simulations - 16/12/2007 10:09 AM

... a range conflict ...QUOTE]

One, probably both will slip. Always the case.

I wonder if there is a study comparing announced launch dates (a year before scheduled launch, 6 moths etc.) with actual launch dates. What is the average slip for a NASA, NRO etc mission? Depending on the launch vehicle ...

Analyst
Title: RE: Delta II/GLAST - 16 May 2008
Post by: Analyst on 12/16/2007 09:10 am: Quote
GW_Simulations - 16/12/2007 10:09 AM

... a range conflict ...

One, probably both will slip. Always the case.

I wonder if there is a study comparing announced launch dates (a year before scheduled launch, 6 moths etc.) with actual launch dates. What is the average slip for a NASA, NRO etc mission? Depending on the launch vehicle ...

Analyst[/QUOTE]
Title: RE: Delta II/GLAST - 16 May 2008
Post by: William Graham on 12/16/2007 09:58 am: Quote
Analyst - 16/12/2007 10:10 AM

One, probably both will slip. Always the case.

I wonder if there is a study comparing announced launch dates (a year before scheduled launch, 6 moths etc.) with actual launch dates. What is the average slip for a NASA, NRO etc mission? Depending on the launch vehicle ...

Analyst

I think GLAST was originally scheduled for May 2007. Delta IIs are pretty punctual, but this one's been affected by satellite problems. As for Delta IVs, let's not even go there. The average delay is measured in years, and L-26 is the most delayed D-IV to date (originally scheduled for 2005).
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: WHAP on 12/16/2007 08:31 pm: In most cases, the delays are due to the spacecraft. First flights of a new launcher are always prone to delays, but even Delta IV hasn't had too many vehicle-caused delays (except in the Heavy case). Although Atlas had to recover from the L-30 launch this summer, every spacecraft scheduled for launch from this point on has slipped to where the delays from the RL10 issue are no longer relevant. I think the next Atlas V launch, L-28, was originally scheduled to launch in November 2005 - not as bad as L-26, but not atypical for NRO spacecraft.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: wannamoonbase on 12/17/2007 12:14 pm: WHAP, does is the unofficial slogan for the NRO still: 'You can buy better but you can't pay more.'

I know the NRO does unique stuff but it can't be that amazing to justify their multi year slips and billions of cost over runs. They deserve all the oversight they can get.

The EELV vehicles (except the D4 HLV) have not been the reason for major schedule slips. When it comes to performance and getting off the ground both vehicles are money compared to other vehicles and their payloads.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Analyst on 12/17/2007 12:29 pm: In the 1980ies (after Challenger) and before Titan 4 there has been a shortage of launchers: NRO and other satellites were sitting in cleanrooms waiting for a launcher. Now it is the other way arround: EELVs are there, working (assured access to space), but there is a shortage of payloads, in particular NRO payloads are delayed by years.

Kinda ironic.

Analyst
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: WHAP on 12/17/2007 06:53 pm: Quote
wannamoonbase - 17/12/2007 6:14 AM

WHAP, does is the unofficial slogan for the NRO still: 'You can buy better but you can't pay more.'

Actually, I'm sure someone has used that slogan to apply to LM, Boeing, ULA, and every subcontractor of theirs at one time or another.
:)
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 02/07/2008 09:01 pm: RELEASE: 08-036

NASA CALLS FOR SUGGESTIONS TO RE-NAME FUTURE TELESCOPE MISSION

WASHINGTON - NASA announced Thursday that members of the general
public from around the world will have a chance to suggest a new name
for the cutting edge Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, otherwise
known as GLAST, observatory before it launches in mid-2008. The
satellite will observe some of the most powerful forces known in the
universe.

"The idea is to give people a chance to come up with a name that will
fully engage the public in the GLAST mission," said Steve Ritz, the
mission's project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md.

The mission's scientific objectives are to:

- Explore the most extreme environments in the universe, where nature
harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth
- Search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the
mysterious dark matter
- Explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to
nearly light speed
- Help crack the mysteries of the stupendously powerful explosions
known as gamma-ray bursts
- Answer long-standing questions about a broad range of phenomena,
including solar flares, pulsars and the origin of cosmic rays

"We're looking for name suggestions that will capture the excitement
of GLAST's mission and call attention to gamma-ray and high-energy
astronomy. We are looking for something memorable to commemorate this
spectacular new astronomy mission," said Alan Stern, associate
administrator for Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We
hope someone will come up with a name that is catchy, easy to say and
will help make the satellite and its mission a topic of dinner table
and classroom discussion."

Suggestions for the mission's new name can be an acronym, but it is
not a requirement. Any suggestions for naming the telescope after a
scientist may only include names of deceased scientists whose names
are not already used for other NASA missions. All suggestions will be
considered. The period for accepting names closes on March 31, 2008.
Participants must include a statement of 25 words or less about why
their suggestion would be a strong name for the mission. Multiple
suggestions are encouraged.

To submit a suggestion for the mission name, visit:

http://glast.sonoma.edu/glastname

Anyone who drops a name into the "Name That Satellite!" suggestion box
on the Web page can choose to receive a "Certificate of
Participation" via return e-mail. Participants also may choose to
receive the NASA press release announcing the new mission name. The
announcement is expected approximately 60 days after launch of the
telescope.

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics
partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of
Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions
and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

For more information about the GLAST mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 02/07/2008 09:36 pm: The range conflict is no longer an issue, the Delta IV has been delayed to 15 July.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: trekkerjel on 02/15/2008 09:42 pm: Question on viewing these launches--if coming from Orlando, what type of traffic should I expect? I imagine not as crowded as a Shuttle launch? How long would it take to drive from Orlando to the Cape to view the launch, and how early should I get there?
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Jim on 02/15/2008 10:14 pm: not crowded at all
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: MKremer on 02/15/2008 11:56 pm: Can't compare an average Delta-II science or DoD launch crowd (and area traffic) to something like a Shuttle or massively publicised ELV NASA mission launch.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: trekkerjel on 02/16/2008 01:24 am: Didn't think so. Great, so if this thing goes up May 16th, I should be in the area. Still need to see a shuttle launch, but this should be pretty cool too, especially real close like Jetty Park.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 03/04/2008 03:17 pm: RELEASE: 04-08

GLAST SPACECRAFT ARRIVES IN FLORIDA TO PREPARE FOR LAUNCH

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or
GLAST, arrived Tuesday at the Astrotech payload processing facility
near the Kennedy Space Center to begin final preparations for launch.
Liftoff of GLAST aboard a Delta II rocket is currently targeted for
11:45 a.m. EDT on May 16.

GLAST is a collaborative mission with the U.S. Department of Energy,
international partners from France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden,
and numerous academic institutions from the U.S. and abroad. The
spacecraft will explore the most extreme environments in the
universe, and answer questions about supermassive black hole systems,
pulsars and the origin of cosmic rays. It also will study the mystery
of powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

The milestones to be accomplished over the next two months include
attaching the Ku-band communications antenna and the two sets of
solar arrays, a complete checkout of GLAST's scientific instruments,
installing the spacecraft's battery, and loading aboard the
observatory's propellant. These activities will be performed by
General Dynamics, builder of the spacecraft for NASA. GLAST currently
is scheduled to be transported to Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station on May 1.

The rocket that will launch GLAST is a Delta II 7920-H, manufactured
and prepared for launch by United Launch Alliance. It is a
heavier-lift model of the standard Delta II that uses larger solid
rocket boosters. The first stage is scheduled to be erected on Pad
17-B the week of March 17.

The following week, the nine strap-on solid rocket boosters will be
raised and attached. The second stage, which burns hypergolic
propellants, will be hoisted atop the first stage in late March.
Next, the fairing that will surround the spacecraft will be hoisted
into the clean room of the mobile service tower.

Engineers will perform several tests of the Delta II. In late April,
the first stage will be loaded with liquid oxygen and checked for
leaks. The following day, a simulated flight test will be performed,
testing the vehicle's post-liftoff flight events without fuel aboard.
The electrical and mechanical systems of the entire Delta II will be
exercised during this test.

Once the GLAST payload is atop the launch vehicle, a final major test
will be performed. The combined minus count and plus count test
simulates all events as they will occur on launch day, but without
propellants aboard the vehicle.

The NASA Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center is
responsible for the countdown and launch management of the Delta II
GLAST mission.

For more information about GLAST, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 03/14/2008 02:47 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-031408

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: May 16, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

Prelaunch preparations are under way on GLAST after the spacecraft's
arrival in Florida on March 4. The flight battery has been installed.
The "observatory comprehensive performance tests" are now under way.
Testing of the various spacecraft systems is occurring this week,
including S-band communications, control and data handling systems,
the propulsions system and the spacecraft's computers. Instrument
testing is scheduled to begin this weekend. Late next week, the two
sets of solar arrays are scheduled to be installed.

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, buildup of the Delta
II rocket is currently scheduled to begin the week of March 24 with
the hoisting of the first stage. Work to attach the nine strap-on
solid rocket boosters will follow. Stacking of the second stage is
currently planned for the first week of April.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 03/21/2008 04:28 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-032108

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: May 16, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

Twin solar arrays were attached to the GLAST spacecraft on Thursday,
March 20. A solar array deployment test is under way today and will
be followed by a solar array illumination test on April 2. A
continuation of the spacecraft comprehensive performance tests is
planned for next week. This will include end-to-end communications
testing through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system.

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, buildup of the Delta
II rocket will begin Monday, March 24, with the hoisting of the first
stage. Work to attach the nine strap-on solid rocket boosters will
follow, continuing throughout the week. Stacking of the second stage
is currently planned for April 3.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Jim on 03/26/2008 12:18 pm: First stage stacking is happening now
http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/elv/
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 03/29/2008 08:57 am: STATUS REPORT: ELV-032808

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: May 16, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

The spacecraft comprehensive performance tests continue. Next week,
the illumination test of the twin solar arrays is scheduled to occur
on Wednesday, and they will then be stowed for flight on Thursday.
Each array generates 750 watts of power for a total of 1,500 watts,
the GLAST spacecraft's maximum power requirement.

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, due to high wind,
hoisting the Delta II first stage into the launcher was postponed
from Monday until Wednesday, March 26. Work to attach the nine
strap-on solid rocket boosters in sets of three is under way and will
continue until the middle of next week. Stacking of the second stage
is currently planned for April 5.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: JWag on 03/30/2008 04:04 pm: The Kennedy Media Gallery has a GLAST category (http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=181), with lots of nifty stacking images.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 04/01/2008 06:35 pm: MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-073

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ACCREDITATION REQUIRED EARLY FOR GLAST LAUNCH

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The launch of NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area
Space Telescope, or GLAST, is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. EDT on May 16
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

To meet Air Force requirements, international media must submit
accreditation requests for the GLAST launch before April 14.
Reporters may apply for GLAST accreditation online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Reporters who are U.S. citizens living within the United States may
apply online for accreditation through May 12.

A GLAST prelaunch news conference will be held at 1 p.m. on May 14 at
the NASA's Kennedy Space Center News Center. Press badges will be
available beginning at 8 a.m. on May 14 and may be picked up at the
Pass and Identification Building located on State Road 405 east of
U.S. Highway 1, south of Titusville. GLAST mission press badges also
will be valid for the launch on May 16.

For more information about the GLAST mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 04/04/2008 07:29 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-040408

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: May 16, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

The GLAST spacecraft's solar array illumination test is occurring
today. This weekend, the work to install the Ku-band communications
transmitter will begin. A functional test will follow on Tuesday.
Closeouts of the spacecraft's thermal blankets also will begin next
week. Installation of the Ku-band communications antenna is planned
for mid-April.

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, work to attach the
nine strap-on solid rocket boosters to the Delta II first stage was
completed this week. Stacking of the second stage atop the first
stage is planned for Saturday.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: TJL on 04/05/2008 09:38 pm: Will this be the last Delta II Heavy launch by NASA?
Thank you.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Jim on 04/05/2008 10:02 pm: don't know for sure
Title: GLAST second stage erection anomaly
Post by: scubadown on 04/09/2008 12:33 pm: GLAST second stage erection anomaly. Has anyone heard about this? MIB is being set up?
Title: RE: GLAST second stage erection anomaly
Post by: Analyst on 04/09/2008 04:32 pm: What do *you* know? The fact?

Analyst
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Delta Manager on 04/09/2008 09:53 pm: We're not aware of anything to be cocerned about at this time.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Antares on 04/10/2008 05:18 am: The joys of the NE-All email list. Suddenly former PH guys think they have knowledge and start dropping the dime on ELV. Careful, STS boys. Atlas and Delta data is proprietary.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Analyst on 04/10/2008 06:23 am: Quote
Antares - 10/4/2008 7:18 AM

The joys of the NE-All email list. Suddenly former PH guys think they have knowledge and start dropping the dime on ELV. Careful, STS boys. Atlas and Delta data is proprietary.

Acronym alert: NE-All?, PH? Context with STS, Atlas?

Analyst
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Antares on 04/10/2008 05:42 pm: NE = KSC engineering directorate mail code.
PH = KSC Shuttle (now "Launch Vehicle") processing directorate mail code.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: DaveS on 04/11/2008 10:38 pm: Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: May 16, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Delta II first stage and nine solid rocket boosters have been erected. During preparations to hoist the second stage atop the first stage, an incident occurred which caused an adapter beam associated with the lifting operation to fracture. As a result, the stacking operation was immediately stopped. A team has been appointed to investigate the incident. Once the team has concluded its investigation and is able to determine there was no damage to the second stage, a new date for stacking will be set, possibly as early as next week.

Meanwhile, at the Astrotech payload processing facility, the GLAST spacecraft's solar array illumination test has been completed. The Ku-band communications transmitter was installed as scheduled. Closeouts of the spacecraft thermal blankets are under way. The Ku-band communications antenna will be installed early next week. At this time, preparations continue for delivery of GLAST to the launch pad on May 2.
Title: RE: GLAST second stage erection anomaly
Post by: rdale on 04/12/2008 01:17 am: Quote
pad rat - 9/4/2008 4:54 PM

Quote
scubadown - 9/4/2008 8:33 AM GLAST second stage erection anomaly. Has anyone heard about this? MIB is being set up?
A mishap has not been declared.

What's the vocabulary on "mishap" vs "incident" or whatever was that actually declared?
Title: RE: GLAST second stage erection anomaly
Post by: Antares on 04/14/2008 05:17 am: Quote
rdale - 11/4/2008 8:17 PM
Quote
pad rat - 9/4/2008 4:54 PM
Quote
scubadown - 9/4/2008 8:33 AM GLAST second stage erection anomaly. Has anyone heard about this? MIB is being set up?
A mishap has not been declared.
What's the vocabulary on "mishap" vs "incident" or whatever was that actually declared?
Good place to start
http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PR_8621_001B_&page_name=Chapter1
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: marsavian on 04/15/2008 05:39 pm: Delta II Rocket Coming Together for NASA's GLAST Satellite Launch

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/delta_rocket.html
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/2008/
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: edkyle99 on 04/15/2008 06:31 pm: Here's what it takes to connect a solid rocket motor to a Delta II first stage. Workers with torque wrenches, in harness, squeezed into small spaces..

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=35614

- Ed Kyle
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: Analyst on 04/18/2008 06:56 am: According to spaceflightnow, the launch has been delayed, no new date is given. Any reason why? Launch vehicle, payload?

Analyst
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: PA space fan on 04/18/2008 07:14 pm: Second-stage stacking problem, according to SpaceflightNow.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: DaveS on 04/18/2008 07:17 pm: Quote
PA space fan - 18/4/2008 9:14 PM

Second-stage stacking problem, according to SpaceflightNow.
Probably related to this:

"During preparations to hoist the second stage atop the first stage, an incident occurred which caused an adapter beam associated with the lifting operation to fracture. As a result, the stacking operation was immediately stopped. A team has been appointed to investigate the incident."

That was from last week's ELV status report.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 04/18/2008 09:02 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-041808

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: TBD (under assessment)

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Delta II second
stage is planned to be hoisted atop the first stage on Monday. This
week, work to complete the manufacturing, testing and evaluation of
the new H-beam associated with the lifting of the second stage was
completed.

Meanwhile, at the Astrotech payload processing facility, the GLAST
Ku-band communications antenna was installed on Tuesday. Testing will
begin on Sunday. End-to-end communications system testing is also
scheduled for this weekend. Closeouts of the spacecraft thermal
blankets continue. The star tracker sun shade installation is
currently planned for next Wednesday.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: kaa on 04/19/2008 02:52 am: The GLAST science team have been told that a crane impacted the rocket. There is no visible damage. The initial projection was a 3-day delay in the launch however that has not been confirmed yet. GLAST itself has no launch constraints but there are a lot of other launches behind it in the queue.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: edkyle99 on 04/23/2008 04:17 pm: No word of a Stage 2 lift yet. Did it happen on Monday as planned?

- Ed Kyle
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: ras391 on 04/23/2008 04:42 pm: second stage was lifted on Tuesday. NASA reports that launch date will not be set until next week. Need to fit it between other launches on East and West Coast of US.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 04/25/2008 03:07 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-042508

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: TBD (under assessment)
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Delta II second
stage was hoisted into position on Tuesday. Upcoming milestones
include a cryogenic test of the first stage using liquid oxygen,
along with an associated countdown operation. A Simulated Flight Test
follows that, encompassing the flight events that occur from liftoff
through spacecraft separation to exercise the onboard vehicle systems
of the Delta II. Both tests will occur approximately the second week
of May.

Meanwhile, at the Astrotech payload processing facility, end-to-end
communications testing through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
System has been completed. Three sunshades associated with the star
tracker system were installed on Wednesday, and the sun trackers
associated with the solar arrays were cleaned. The closeouts of the
spacecraft thermal blankets continue. A final cleaning of the overall
spacecraft and black light inspection are under way today, which are
the last activities for spacecraft processing until the fueling of
the spacecraft. Fueling will be scheduled once a launch date has been
determined.

Moblie Service Structure at Canaveral LC-40 is scheduled to be demolished
between 09:00-11:00 EDT on 27 April.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: kaa on 04/27/2008 02:15 am: Launch is currently NET May 31.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/27/2008 05:31 am: Quote
kaa - 26/4/2008 10:15 PM

Launch is currently NET May 31.

Hmm... what are the chances of the vehicle and payload being ready on that date. I can think of one MAJOR range confliction there. :o
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: rdale on 04/27/2008 12:26 pm: NET = "No Earlier Than" a specific date, is does not mean launch is planned for that date.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: ChrisGebhardt on 04/28/2008 04:47 am: Quote
rdale - 27/4/2008 8:26 AM

NET = "No Earlier Than" a specific date, is does not mean launch is planned for that date.

Yeah... I know. I was just asking if anyone on here knew the viability of that date... as in "might be possible to make," or "not really, but a good 'work-to' date." I was just trying to get a sense of what the Eastern Range might look like around May 31. ;)
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/02/2008 08:59 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-050208

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: TBD (under assessment)
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a cryogenic test of
the Delta II first stage is scheduled for May 7. This test includes a
countdown and the loading aboard of liquid oxygen as a leak check of
the first stage. The following day a Simulated Flight Test will be
performed exercising the onboard vehicle systems of the Delta II from
liftoff through spacecraft separation. NASA managers are working to
resolve an issue with flight ordnance that they consider could affect
mission success.

At Astrotech, a final cleaning of the GLAST spacecraft and the
associated black light inspection have been completed. Preparations
have begun to move the spacecraft to the hazardous processing
facility on Sunday. Fueling operations are scheduled for next week.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - May 16, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/09/2008 04:48 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-050908

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H (United Launch Alliance)
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: No Earlier Than June 3, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

NASA management currently is targeting no earlier than June 3 for the
liftoff of GLAST atop a Delta II rocket.

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a cryogenic test of
the Delta II first stage was conducted May 7. This test included a
countdown and the loading aboard of liquid oxygen as a leak check of
the first stage. Yesterday a Simulated Flight Test was performed
exercising the onboard vehicle systems of the Delta II from liftoff
through spacecraft separation. At Astrotech, the spacecraft is in the
hazardous processing facility and fueling is scheduled for this
weekend.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/12/2008 09:04 pm: MEDIA ADVISORY: 08-08

NASA'S GLAST MEDIA OPPORTUNITY SET FOR MAY 15

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or
GLAST, soon to be launched aboard a Delta II rocket, will be the
focus of a media opportunity on Thursday, May 15. The event will be
held at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Fla.,
at 10 a.m. EDT.

The event will include an opportunity to photograph GLAST and to
interview project officials from NASA and General Dynamics, builder
of the spacecraft. Media may proceed directly to Astrotech located in
the Spaceport Florida Industrial Park, 1515 Chaffee Drive,
Titusville. Access begins at 9:45 a.m. The event will last
approximately two hours.

Spokespeople available will be:
- Albert Vernacchio, GLAST Deputy Project Manager
Goddard Space Flight Center
- Dr. Steven Ritz, GLAST Project Scientist/Astrophysicist
Goddard Space Flight Center
- Bruce Reid
GLAST Kennedy Space Center Mission Manager
- Robb Pinkerton, Technical Program Manager
General Dynamics

GLAST, NASA's new gamma-ray observatory, will open a wide window on
the universe. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and
the gamma-ray sky is spectacularly different from the one we perceive
with our own eyes. With a huge leap in all key capabilities, GLAST
data will enable scientists to answer persistent questions across a
broad range of topics, including supermassive black-hole systems,
pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays, and searches for signals of new
physics.

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics
partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of
Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions
and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

For the media event, procedures for optically sensitive spacecraft
must be followed by individuals entering the clean room where the
spacecraft is being processed. Guidelines for controlled access to
the clean room have been developed by quality control personnel and
will be monitored prior to entering the facility. Full clean room
attire (bunny suits) must be worn and will be furnished.
Photographers may be requested to clean cameras or accessories using
alcohol wipes which will be provided.

Long pants, shirts with sleeves and closed-toe shoes must be worn --
no shorts or skirts. Non-essential equipment, such as camera bags or
other carrying cases, should be left outside the clean room. No
pencils or felt-tipped pens can be permitted inside the clean room;
only ball-point pens may be used. No food, tobacco, chewing gum,
lighters, matches or pocketknives will be allowed. Please do not wear
perfume, cologne or makeup.

Wireless microphones cannot be used. Electronic flash photography also
cannot be permitted in this facility. There is adequate metal halide
lighting in the facility for photography (white with a slight green
cast; suggested exposure for ISO-ASA 400 is 1/30 sec. at f/5.6).

The Delta II rocket is being prepared for flight by United Launch
Alliance at Space Launch Complex 17 on Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station. The liftoff is currently planned for Tuesday, June 3 at the
opening of a 115 minute window that extends from 11:45 a.m. - 1:40
p.m.

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is responsible for designing and
developing the spacecraft and its instruments. General Dynamics built
the spacecraft for Goddard. The NASA Launch Services Program at the
Kennedy Space Center is responsible for the countdown and launch
management of the Delta II.

For more information about GLAST, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/16/2008 09:21 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-051608

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H (United Launch Alliance)
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: No Earlier Than June 3, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

At Astrotech this week, the GLAST spacecraft underwent final closeouts
in preparation for being transported to the launch pad. It was mated
to the launch vehicle's payload attach fitting on Wednesday. GLAST is
being installed Friday into the payload transportation canister in
preparation for transfer to the launch pad. The rollout from
Astrotech to Pad 17-B will be done during the overnight hours of
Saturday morning, and mating of the spacecraft to the second stage of
the Delta II is planned between 5 and 7 a.m. EDT.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/19/2008 06:56 pm: RELEASE: 08-44

NASA to Hold GLAST Pre-launch News Briefing

GREENBELT, Md. – NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will hold a teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, May 27, for a science and mission status briefing on NASA’s upcoming Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission. Reporters should contact Robert Naeye at Tel. 301-286-4453 by noon on May 27, for dial-in information.

GLAST, NASA's new gamma-ray observatory, will open a wide new window on the universe. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and the gamma-ray sky is spectacularly different from what we perceive with our own eyes. With a huge leap in all key capabilities, GLAST data will enable scientists to answer persistent questions across a broad range of topics, including supermassive black hole systems, pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays, and searches for signatures of new physics.

The briefing participants are:

- Lynn Cominsky, GLAST Education and Public Outreach, Sonoma State University,

Rohnert Park, Calif.
- Steve Ritz, GLAST Project Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- David Thompson, GLAST Deputy Project Scientist, NASA Goddard

- Peter Michelson, Large Area Telescope (LAT) Principal Investigator, Stanford University,

Palo Alto, Calif.

- Charles "Chip" Meegan, GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM) Principal Investigator, Marshall

Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

For teleconference slides and biographies, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/L7_telecon_main.html

For more information about the GLAST mission, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: John44 on 05/22/2008 07:19 pm: GLAST COMPLETES PRELAUNCH PROCESSING
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3691&Itemid=2
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/23/2008 03:10 am: MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-106

NASA'S GLAST SPACE TELESCOPE TO LAUNCH ABOARD DELTA II ON JUNE 3

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Launch of NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space
Telescope, or GLAST, is targeted for Tuesday, June 3, from Pad 17-B
at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The launch window extends
from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT and remains unchanged through Aug.
7. The June 3 launch date is dependent on space shuttle Discovery's
May 31 liftoff, and will move if the shuttle launch is delayed.

NASA's new gamma-ray observatory will open a wide window on the
universe through the study of Gamma rays, the highest-energy form of
light. GLAST data will enable scientists to answer persistent
questions across a broad range of topics, including supermassive
black-hole systems, pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays, and searches
for signals of new physics.

NASA will hold a pre-launch news conference at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center news center at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 1. The briefing will be
carried live on NASA Television.

Participating in the briefing will be:
- Dr. Jon Morse, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters,
Washington
- Omar Baez, NASA launch director/launch manager, Kennedy Space Center
- Kris Walsh, director of Delta NASA and Commercial Programs, United
Launch Alliance, Cape Canaveral, Fla.
- Albert Vernacchio, GLAST deputy project manager, NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Dr. Steven Ritz, GLAST Project scientist/astrophysicist, Goddard
Space Flight Center
- Joel Tumbiolo, U.S. Air Force Delta II launch weather officer, 45th
Weather Squadron, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

A prelaunch webcast will take place on Monday, June 2 at noon on NASA
Direct, Kennedy's Internet broadcasting network. GLAST's launch
director will explain how the countdown will unfold on launch day,
discuss how the spacecraft and Delta II launch vehicle were prepared
for liftoff, and viewers will hear GLAST's project scientist explain
the mission's goals. To view the webcast, and for more information
about the GLAST mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast

NASA TELEVISION COVERAGE
On Sunday, June 1, NASA TV coverage of the GLAST pre-launch news
conference at Kennedy will begin at 1 p.m. Two-way question and
answer capability will be available from participating NASA
locations. On Tuesday, June 3, NASA TV coverage of the launch will
begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude after spacecraft separation from the
Delta II rocket, which occurs 75 minutes after launch. Coverage will
be carried on the NASA TV Media Channel (Channel 103). The broadcast
network HDNet also will carry the launch in high-definition
television format from 11:30 a.m. until noon. For complete NASA TV
downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Audio of the pre-launch news conference will be carried on Kennedy's
monitor-only phone lines and can be heard by dialing 321-867-1260 or
321-867-7135. On launch day, mission audio countdown activities
without NASA launch commentary will be carried on 321-867-7135,
beginning at 8:30 a.m. NASA launch commentary will begin at 9:30 a.m.
and will be available at 321-867-1260. Launch commentary also will be
available on amateur radio frequency 146.940 Mhz (VHF), heard within
Brevard County, Fla.

ACCREDITATION AND MEDIA ACCESS BADGES FOR THE GLAST LAUNCH
All reporters, including those who are permanently badged for Kennedy,
must complete the accreditation process for the activities associated
with the GLAST launch. The media accreditation process may be done
via the Web by going to:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Accreditation requests for the GLAST pre-launch, launch and
post-launch activities at Kennedy and Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station must be received by the close of business Tuesday, May 27. On
Friday, May 30, media without permanent credentials may obtain NASA
access badges at the Pass and Identification building between 6 a.m.
and 4 p.m. The building is located on State Road 405 south of
Titusville, east of U.S. 1 after passing the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Two forms of government-issued identification are required, including
one with photo. To arrange for badging over the weekend, contact
Laurel Lichtenberger in the news media accreditation office at
321-867-4036.

REMOTE CAMERA PLACEMENT AT COMPLEX 17
On Monday, June 2, photographers who wish to set up remote cameras at
the Delta launch complex will be escorted to Pad 17-B. Departure by
vehicle convoy will be at 1 p.m. from the Space Florida parking lot
located on Poseidon Avenue, adjacent to Gate 1 of Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station.

LAUNCH DAY PRESS SITE ACCESS AT CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION
On Tuesday, June 3, sign-in of badged reporters will begin at 10:30
a.m. at the Space Florida parking lot. Media will be required to show
their permanent KSC credentials or temporary KSC machine badge before
being allowed access to the media viewing site. Following the launch,
media will be escorted via caravan back to Gate 1. Media requiring
access to the Kennedy Press Site after launch must proceed through
Gate 2 on State Road 3. Media requiring remote camera retrieval
should remain at the viewing site until escorted to the launch pad.
After camera retrieval, photographers will be escorted back to Gate
1.

Because this launch is a Delta II Heavy configuration with larger
solid rocket boosters, the media viewing site will be atop the
Trident Bluff on south Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. There is no
infrastructure at this location, so news media should plan on being
fully self-contained. A wireless Internet capability will be
available.

POST-LAUNCH ACTIVITIES
No post-launch news conference is planned. A post-launch news release
will be issued once first contact has been made with GLAST and the
state of health of the spacecraft can be determined. This should
occur within one hour after spacecraft separation from the Delta II.

NEWS CENTER HOURS FOR LAUNCH
Kennedy's News Center will be open for GLAST news operations beginning
on Sunday, June 1, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., continuing through
launch. Starting at that time, status reports on the launch of GLAST
and any media updates will be recorded on the news center update line
at 321-867-2525.
Title: RE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/23/2008 06:58 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-052308

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H (United Launch Alliance)
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: No Earlier Than June 3, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

The rollout of the GLAST spacecraft from Astrotech to Pad 17-B began
shortly after midnight on May 17, arriving at Pad 17-B on Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station at 5 a.m. The spacecraft was then hoisted
atop the Delta II at 7:30 a.m. Spacecraft state of health checks are
successfully complete.

Thursday the Flight Program Verification was conducted. This is an
electrical and mechanical test of the Delta II and GLAST working
together as a single integrated system during countdown and launch
milestones. Once this test is complete, spacecraft closeouts will
begin. GLAST will be encapsulated into the Delta II fairing on May
27.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: faustod on 05/30/2008 11:23 am: According to Spaceflight Now, the launch is now scheduled for June 5.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/30/2008 03:54 pm: MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-110

NASA TARGETS GLAST LAUNCH FOR JUNE 5

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The launch of NASA's GLAST spacecraft aboard a
United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for Thursday,
June 5. The launch window extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT
and remains unchanged through Aug. 7.

The June 5 date already is reserved for the launch of GLAST on the
Eastern Range. The date was chosen at the conclusion of Thursday's
Flight Readiness Review to give the launch team sufficient time to
make sure remaining open engineering issues are resolved.

The GLAST prelaunch news conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. on
Tuesday, June 3, at the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center,
Fla. Question-and-answer capability will be available from
participating NASA locations.

The placement of remote cameras at Pad 17-B is scheduled for 1 p.m. on
Wednesday, June 4. On launch day, news media should meet at 10:30
a.m. at the Space Florida parking lot outside Gate 1 of Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station.

Launch commentary on NASA Television (media channel 103) will begin at
9:45 a.m. For complete NASA TV downlink information, schedules and
links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the GLAST mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: hobson911 on 05/31/2008 05:18 am: HDNet will also be providing HD launch coverage of GLAST as well
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 05/31/2008 09:41 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-053008

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H (United Launch Alliance)
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: June 5, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

The launch of NASA's GLAST spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance
Delta II rocket is being scheduled for Thursday, June 5, instead of
no earlier than June 3. The launch window extends from 11:45 a.m. to
1:40 p.m. EDT and remains unchanged through Aug. 7.

The June 5 date is already reserved for the launch of GLAST on the
Eastern Range. The decision was made at the conclusion of Thursday's
Flight Readiness Review to give the launch team sufficient time to
determine that remaining open engineering issues are resolved.

Loading of the hypergolic propellants into the Delta II second stage
is scheduled for Monday, June 2. On launch day, June 5, the mobile
service tower will be retracted from around the rocket at 2 a.m.
Loading of the liquid oxygen to begin the final phase of the launch
countdown will begin at 10 a.m. which will lead to a liftoff targeted
for 11:45 a.m. EDT.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 3, 2008
Post by: Antares on 06/01/2008 05:57 pm: 2 of 4 issues from FRR are closed, 3rd is very close, 4th is awaiting test results on Monday. Clinging to Friday date, but testing could delay if results are inconclusive.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 7, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/02/2008 06:39 pm: Moved to June 7.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 7, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/02/2008 09:55 pm: June 7 presser now:

NASA Targets GLAST Launch for June 7

WASHINGTON, June 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has set June 7 as the new target launch date for the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT and remains unchanged through Aug. 7.

NASA had targeted June 5 for the GLAST launch aboard a Delta II rocket. Additional time was necessary for the Delta II launch team to assure that open engineering issues, which have been under review, are satisfactorily resolved.

The GLAST prelaunch news conference is planned for 1 p.m. on Thursday, June 5, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center News Center. Question and answer capability will be available from participating NASA locations.

The placement of remote cameras at Pad 17-B is planned for 1 p.m. on Friday, June 6. On launch day, news media should meet at 10:30 a.m. at the Space Florida parking lot outside Gate 1 of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Launch commentary on NASA Television's Media Channel 103 will begin at 9:45 a.m. on June 7. For complete NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 7, 2008
Post by: Antares on 06/04/2008 04:52 am: Now the 8th.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 7, 2008
Post by: kaa on 06/05/2008 01:21 am: Emily Lakdawalla on the Planetary Soc. blog just posted that GLAST and JASON are indefinitely postponed because range safety is refusing to allow a waiver on a rocket issue. Anyone have confirmation of this ?

Keith
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 7, 2008
Post by: Antares on 06/05/2008 05:18 am: The residents of Brevard County and Santa Barbara County like surfin but generally avoid URFIN, uncontrolled rocket flight into neighborhoods. So I think I'll go with the Range on this one too.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 7, 2008
Post by: John44 on 06/05/2008 08:42 am: NASA Now Targets June 8 Launch

The launch of NASA’s GLAST spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance
Delta II rocket is now scheduled for no earlier than Sunday, June 8, during a window that extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT. Additional time was necessary for the Delta II launch team to assure that open engineering issues, which have been under review, are satisfactorily resolved.

Workers at the launch pad will load the hypergolic propellants into the Delta II rocket's second stage several days prior to launch. On launch day, they will retract the mobile service tower from around the rocket at 2 a.m. Loading of the liquid oxygen, beginning the final phase of the launch countdown, is set to start
at 10 a.m.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/main/index.html
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 7, 2008
Post by: Analyst on 06/05/2008 11:51 am: Let me guess: Range safety batteries again?

Analyst
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/05/2008 11:57 am: Slips again. Now NET June 11.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 06/05/2008 08:36 pm: MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-115

NASA TARGETS GLAST LAUNCH FOR NO EARLIER THAN JUNE 11

WASHINGTON -- NASA has set June 11 as the new no-earlier-than target
launch date for the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST,
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window
extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT.

NASA initially had targeted June 7 for the GLAST launch aboard a Delta
II rocket. Additional time was needed to replace the rocket's flight
termination system battery, which indicated a problem Wednesday.

The GLAST prelaunch news conference is planned for 1 p.m. on Monday,
June 9, at NASA's News Center at the Kennedy Space Center.
Question-and-answer capability will be available from participating
NASA locations.

Placement of remote cameras at Pad 17B is planned for 1 p.m., Tuesday,
June 10. On launch day, news media should meet at 10:30 a.m. at the
Space Florida parking lot outside Gate 1 of Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station.

Launch commentary on NASA Television's Media Channel 103 will begin at
9:45 a.m. on June 11. For complete NASA TV downlink information,
schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the GLAST mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 06/06/2008 09:52 pm: STATUS REPORT: ELV-060608

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H (United Launch Alliance)
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: No earlier than June 11, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

NASA is targeting no earlier than June 11 for the launch of the GLAST
spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. The
launch window extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT and remains
unchanged through Aug. 7.

The additional time is necessary to allow for replacement of the
rocket's Flight Termination System battery which displayed
indications of a problem Wednesday.

Loading of the hypergolic propellants into the Delta II second stage
is planned for this weekend. On launch day, June 11, the mobile
service tower will be retracted from around the rocket at 2 a.m. The
terminal countdown sequence will begin at 9:15 a.m. by loading the
first stage with RP-1 fuel, a highly refined kerosene. This will be
followed at 10:15 a.m. by cryogenic fueling, loading the first stage
with liquid oxygen. This will lead to a liftoff targeted for 11:45
a.m. EDT.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/09/2008 03:10 pm: From ULA PAO

"> Hi, you may have seen this, but just to be sure, the GLAST LRR
> adjourned, we are working no issues and we have a go for launch on
> Wednesday. It's a 40% of weather violation, both Wed and Thur, but we
> remain optimistic on that front. "
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: chas on 06/09/2008 06:29 pm: Quote from: Chris Bergin on 06/09/2008 03:10 pm
From ULA PAO

"> Hi, you may have seen this, but just to be sure, the GLAST LRR
> adjourned, we are working no issues and we have a go for launch on
> Wednesday. It's a 40% of weather violation, both Wed and Thur, but we
> remain optimistic on that front. "

Two questions: Will any local radio stations near the Cape be covering this launch? What is the launch azimuth/ orbital inclination (?) ?
My family is in Cocoa Beach but at launch time will only have access to a radio.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Jim on 06/09/2008 06:32 pm: due east.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/09/2008 10:07 pm: There's been an incident at the pad, which led to an evacuation. A leak of N204 was detected, people given check ups as a pre-caution.

No one harmed and launch is still on for Wednesday.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Antares on 06/10/2008 06:26 am: Chas, best place to be is at Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral. That's as close as you can get, very good for a Delta II launch. If you have access to a scanner, NASA tv is rebroadcast on 146.94 MHz, and one of the SGS frequencies is at 148.485. If you have a web-enabled phone, you can actually pull this thread up and use it if someone here is giving play-by-play. I formerly used spaceflightnow when watching a launch on the beach, but it had too many graphics. NSF works pretty well.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: SpaceCat on 06/10/2008 06:36 am: One note about Jetty Park- unless you hike out to the very tip of the jetty (which can be quite crowded for a launch) you can't see the bird on the pad prior to liftoff due to the tree line. An alternative would be Cherri Down Park about a mile south. Little further away, but very nice view.
Title: Re: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/10/2008 09:02 am: Quote from: Antares on 06/10/2008 06:26 am
If you have a web-enabled phone, you can actually pull this thread up and use it if someone here is giving play-by-play.

Oh yes. Tomorrow's live coverage starts pre-7am for Discovery undocking, then GLAST.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/10/2008 11:27 pm: Moved for live coverage..
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: elmarko on 06/11/2008 08:13 am: I'm a little bit confused about NASA TV's coverage of this, with all of their new multichannel shiznit. This is on the media channel starting at 14:45pm BST?

Are there any high bitrate streams of the media channel like we have for the public channel?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Analyst on 06/11/2008 08:36 am: Is there be a Launch Press Kit? I haven't seen any.

Analyst
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 10:23 am: About 320 minutes to launch. Looks like the MSS has been retracted.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 10:32 am
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: elmarko on 06/11/2008 11:01 am: Is that a counter of how much fuel is in there?

I love how it just looks like a petrol station forecourt. Wonder what the tax is on that :)
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: jaythehokie on 06/11/2008 11:18 am: Quote from: Analyst on 06/11/2008 08:36 am
Is there be a Launch Press Kit? I haven't seen any.

Analyst

The only one I've seen is at http://www.ulalaunch.com
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 11:50 am: L-235 mins, T-165.

In about a quarter of an hour the countdown will enter a hold for one hour.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 11:55 am: Quote from: elmarko on 06/11/2008 08:13 am
I'm a little bit confused about NASA TV's coverage of this, with all of their new multichannel shiznit. This is on the media channel starting at 14:45pm BST?

Are there any high bitrate streams of the media channel like we have for the public channel?

There is only the media channel on NASA.gov:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html?param=media
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: just-nick on 06/11/2008 12:09 pm: Quote from: Analyst on 06/11/2008 08:36 am
Is there be a Launch Press Kit? I haven't seen any.

They have put out a Science Writer's Guide at:

http://glast.gsfc.nasa.gov/public/resources/GLAST_SciWriterGuide_16Apr08.pdf

That looks like a passable introduction to the science goals and experiments onboard. But nothing on launch timelines or the like.

--Nick
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: elmarko on 06/11/2008 12:47 pm: Where are you getting those screenshots from?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 12:53 pm: Quote from: elmarko on 06/11/2008 12:47 pm
Where are you getting those screenshots from?

http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/elv/public/

Stream two and three.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:00 pm: About 165 mins to launch. Currently at T-150 mins and holding, hold release expected in just under five minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:00 pm: 45 minutes from the start of the GLAST Mission coverage on NASA TV's Media Channel. If anyone can get the link for the Media Channel that works on VLC and post it here? I can't seem to get it to work correctly.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:04 pm: Quote from: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:00 pm
45 minutes from the start of the GLAST Mission coverage on NASA TV's Media Channel. If anyone can get the link for the Media Channel that works on VLC and post it here? I can't seem to get it to work correctly.

http://www.nasa.gov/145590main_Digital_Media.asx
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:07 pm: Quote from: GW_Simulations on 06/11/2008 01:04 pm
Quote from: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:00 pm
45 minutes from the start of the GLAST Mission coverage on NASA TV's Media Channel. If anyone can get the link for the Media Channel that works on VLC and post it here? I can't seem to get it to work correctly.

http://www.nasa.gov/145590main_Digital_Media.asx

EDIT: Ah, it didn't work on VLC, but works on Windows Media. :) Heads up for anyone who wants to watch. ;)
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:11 pm: Quote from: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:07 pm
That link does not play on VLC. It wants to, but then stops.

I think it's a configuration issue, but I don't know what causes it. It's not just that stream that it affects. What version of VLC, and which codecs do you have installed?

This problem has occurred before, and we really need to try and get to the bottom of it, as it can cause problems with recording streams.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:17 pm: Quote from: GW_Simulations on 06/11/2008 01:11 pm
Quote from: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:07 pm
That link does not play on VLC. It wants to, but then stops.

I think it's a configuration issue, but I don't know what causes it. It's not just that stream that it affects. What version of VLC, and which codecs do you have installed?

This problem has occurred before, and we really need to try and get to the bottom of it, as it can cause problems with recording streams.

Latest version of VLC, and whatever codecs needed, not too sure about that, haven't downloaded any of them.

We can discuss this in another thread (perhaps in the General Discussion) after launch, though. :)
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:36 pm: Looks like fuelling is underway.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: elmarko on 06/11/2008 01:41 pm: Can't believe I'm having to watch this on a 150kbps stream.

Sort it out, NASA.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:41 pm: Delta II GLAST Mission Coverage starting on NASA's Media Channel (please forgive the name of the images, can't switch between 124 and GLAST names with this program!):
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:44 pm: Webcast should start soon.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:46 pm: Webcast starting!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:46 pm: Live shot of the Delta II Rocket on the pad.

T-108 minutes and counting.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:47 pm: Sound is awful.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:48 pm: Countdown progressing smoothly, no problems with the vehicle or spacecraft that would delay launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:51 pm: Did the commentator just say General Dynamics? What have they got to do with this launch?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: elmarko on 06/11/2008 01:53 pm: Sound is also out of sync with video. At least, on this prerecorded video.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:54 pm: The titles are being cut off the sides of the webcast.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:55 pm: RP-1(?) Fuel loading is complete in the first stage of Delta II.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Skyrocket on 06/11/2008 01:57 pm: Quote from: GW_Simulations on 06/11/2008 01:51 pm
Did the commentator just say General Dynamics? What have they got to do with this launch?

GD built the spacecraft:
http://www.gd-ais.com/Capabilities/offerings/marketing/GLASTdatasheet.pdf
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: elmarko on 06/11/2008 01:58 pm: Quote from: GW_Simulations on 06/11/2008 01:54 pm
The titles are being cut off the sides of the webcast.
Wrong aspect ratio I guess. it might be 16:9 zoomed in to 4:3
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 01:58 pm: Spacecraft has a mass of 4627 kg (10201 lbs).

Quote from: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 01:55 pm
RP-1(?) Fuel loading is complete in the first stage of Delta II.

RP-1 is parraffin or kerosene, depending on where you live.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 02:02 pm: "An United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy with the NASA GLAST satellite sits poised on the pad at Space Launch Complex 17B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Everything is on track for liftoff scheduled for 11:45 a.m. today. Photo by Carleton Bailie - ULA "
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 02:02 pm: Weather concerns are showers and thunderstorms to the West. No violation at the moment. Weather looks good for the first 15 mins of the window, possibly red after that.

There is also a small risk of windshear at high levels.

40% chance of weather violation at the start of the window, increasing as it progresses.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:04 pm: OPS Weather forecast:
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:05 pm: Good for LOX Loading, looking for Sea Breeze to develop during the launch window.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:09 pm: NASA is GO for Cryogenic Tank Loading.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 02:09 pm: NASA go for LOX loading.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 02:10 pm: ULA polling.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:16 pm: Preparations beginning for first stage LOX loading.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 02:18 pm: About 85 minutes to launch.

LOX loading underway.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:20 pm: L-85 minutes, T-75 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:20 pm: Begin LOX loading.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 02:21 pm: Given the complete lack of info on the vehicle (all seems to be about the telescope, unless I've completely missed something), this is vehicle is a Heavy version of the Delta II 7920-10 vehicle?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 02:22 pm: Quote from: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 02:21 pm
Given the complete lack of info on the vehicle (all seems to be about the telescope, unless I've completely missed something), this is vehicle is a Heavy version of the Delta II 7920-10 vehicle?

Yes. 7920H-10C I think, but I'm not sure.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: DaveS on 06/11/2008 02:23 pm: Quote from: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 02:21 pm
Given the complete lack of info on the vehicle (all seems to be about the telescope, unless I've completely missed something), this is vehicle is a Heavy version of the Delta II 7920-10 vehicle?
Yes. It's a 7920H-10. Also the 60 minute cryo clock for the RP-1 has now started.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 02:29 pm: Thanks everyone!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:34 pm: Explaining about all the aspects of the spacecraft, from Solar Array Wings to Star Cameras.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:37 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:37 pm: Spacecraft needs to be contamination free, using a black-light to spot the contamination and blowing it away:
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:42 pm: Diller: "What's the first thing you want to see after GLAST is off of the Delta II rocket?"

Rob: "Power Positive. We want to see the Solar Array's deployed, that means we have time to do what we need."
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 02:46 pm: LOX at 95%.

One hour to launch.

Weather is go at the moment.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Skyrocket on 06/11/2008 02:46 pm: Quote from: someone on 06/11/2008 02:42 pm
It's a -10C.

The C in the fairing designation seems to be mostly ommited in publications, since the -10 fairing is no longer used.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 02:48 pm: At this time, weather is green.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 02:50 pm: Quick question, were did you guys get live coverage, and will it be on NASA TV?
EDIT: Nevermind, found it
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 02:54 pm: T-40, L-50 mins.

Interesting view of one of the solids...
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:00 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:01 pm: T-43 Minutes and counting.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:05 pm: LOX loading complete.

Shots of MSS rollback.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:06 pm: Past T-30 mins, just under 40 minutes to launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:08 pm: T-27 Minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:09 pm: All looking good at this point in the countdown.

T-25 minutes. Hydraulics internal.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:10 pm: Is anyone able to record?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:12 pm: Quote from: GW_Simulations on 06/11/2008 03:10 pm
Is anyone able to record?

Yes. Will appear shortly after launch in the video section.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:13 pm: Engine gimbals I believe are going on now.
EDIT; Yep, yawing, Center Engines on S-I stage.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:14 pm: Quote from: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:13 pm
Engine test's I believe are going on now.

Engine gimbal tests. They don't test fire these things on the pad.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:15 pm: Nice shot of the gimbal checks:
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:16 pm: Main Engine Gimbal:
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:16 pm: Center Engine gimbals complete.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:16 pm: Gimbal (slew) tests complete on the first stage.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:17 pm: About half an hour to launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:17 pm: Weather is still green.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: NavySpaceFan on 06/11/2008 03:18 pm: Are there any built-in holds in this countdown?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:19 pm: 16 Minutes and 53 seconds and counting.
Nearing 10 minute hold at T-4 Minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:19 pm: ELV portal has frozen, and the streams are playing up. Is anyone else having this problem, or is it just me?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:20 pm: Quote from: NavySpaceFan on 06/11/2008 03:18 pm
Are there any built-in holds in this countdown?

There will be a 10 minute Built-In Hold with L-14 minutes (T-4 minutes).

Quote from: GW_Simulations on 06/11/2008 03:19 pm
ELV portal has frozen, and the streams are playing up. Is anyone else having this problem, or is it just me?

The ELV portal has frozen, yes, but I am not looking at the streams (only NASA TV's Media Channel).
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:20 pm: Quote from: GW_Simulations on 06/11/2008 03:19 pm
ELV portal has frozen, and the streams are playing up. Is anyone else having this problem, or is it just me?

Nope, I am not having issues.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: NavySpaceFan on 06/11/2008 03:20 pm: Quote from: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:19 pm
16 Minutes and 53 seconds and counting.
Nearing 10 minute hold at T-4 Minutes.

That answers my question, talk about fast service!!! ;D
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Martin.cz on 06/11/2008 03:23 pm: I can also report the portal beeing frozen. I have tested it in both firefox and opera.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:26 pm: T-10 mins (L-20), ELVCP is working again.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:29 pm: 3 minutes from entering the T-4 BIH. First Stage LOX is about to start topping.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:29 pm: Webcast lag is about 50 seconds. One of the worst lags I've seen.

EDIT: 43 seconds.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:30 pm: Weather is still a GO for launch at the opening of the window.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:31 pm: T-4 minutes and HOLDING for 10 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:31 pm: T-4 and holding, L-14.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:31 pm: In the Hold now, T-4 Minutes and holding.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:34 pm: Final launch polls ongoing.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:35 pm: NASA is GO to proceed with terminal count.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:35 pm: Polling for final go to launch.

NASA is go.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:35 pm: Window 15:45-16:49 GMT, 64 minute window. I thought it was longer.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:36 pm: L-9 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:36 pm: L-9 Minutes.
Another poll going on.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:37 pm: Eight minutes to go until launch.

Another poll underway.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:38 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:38 pm: Several controllers not responding to the poll.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: DaveS on 06/11/2008 03:39 pm: Quote from: GW_Simulations on 06/11/2008 03:35 pm
Window 15:45-16:49 GMT, 64 minute window. I thought it was longer.
It was. But once LOX loading starts, it limits the window to about 60 minutes for performance reasons as the LOX chills the RP-1 down.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:40 pm: Five minutes to launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:40 pm: 5 Minutes to launch
1 Minute in the hold.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:41 pm: HOLD EXTENDED
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:41 pm: T-4 minutes and still holding. 63 minutes remaining in the launch window.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:43 pm: Awaiting new T-0
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 03:44 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:45 pm: 60 minutes left in this launch window. Still T-4 minutes and holding.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:46 pm: Downrange tracking station reporting NO GO.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:46 pm: Antigua is currently no-go, the reason the hold was extended. No time, yet, on when Antigua will be go.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:47 pm: Antigua is now GO, waiting on a new recommended T-0 launch time.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: ChrisC on 06/11/2008 03:48 pm: Whoa! Nice chunk of ice just fell.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 03:49 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 03:49 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:50 pm: About 15 minutes of good weather left.

Tentative 12:05 EDT launch time.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:50 pm: Range weather reports 15 minutes of good weather.
New time is 12:05 Launch time EDT.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:50 pm: May be rescheduled for 16:05 or 16:10 GMT, exact time still under discussion.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:51 pm: Launch time still under discussion.

Official recommendation is 12:05 PM EDT.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 03:51 pm: 12:05 local, but the weather is on a downward slide.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 03:51 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:53 pm: The poll again for NASA Is about to underway in 3 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:53 pm: Currently L-11 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 03:54 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:55 pm: Ten minutes to launch, six remaining in the T-4 hold.

New T-0 is 16:05:00 GMT.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:56 pm: 5 minutes left in this Built-In Hold. L-9 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:56 pm: TDRS is go.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 03:56 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:56 pm: Holding Poll now from NASA.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:56 pm: Now polling NASA for a GO.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:57 pm: NLM poll shows NASA go for launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:57 pm: And Everything is Go for Launch for NASA.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 03:57 pm: Launch team polling.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:57 pm: MD Poll underway.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:57 pm: Launch team polling.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 03:58 pm: Another poll underway now, L-5 Minutes. The poll reported Go.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 03:58 pm: Water tank pressure problem.

Tank was overpressurised, but does not appear to be a constraint.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:59 pm: SSW over-pressurization for a quick second, now in the yellow.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 03:59 pm: Did they pull the loop when he said "there is a small possibilty that we could...."!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 03:59 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 03:59 pm: L-5. Spacecraft on internal power.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:00 pm: Five minutes to go until launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:00 pm: S/C on internal power.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:00 pm: GLAST is on internal power.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:01 pm: T-4 minutes and COUNTING. Godspeed, GLAST.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:01 pm: Countdown resumed. T-4 mins.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:01 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:01 pm: T-4 and counting!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:01 pm: Vehicle transferring to internal power.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:01 pm: Delta II on internal power
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:02 pm: Vehicle now armed for launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:02 pm: Solids armed.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:02 pm: T-3 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:03 pm: T-2 minutes and counting, all go.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:03 pm: T-2 mins
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:03 pm: 90 seconds, everything looks good.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:03 pm: T-2 Minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:03 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:03 pm: Tanks pressurizing.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:03 pm: 60 secs. LOX topping to 100%
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:04 pm: T-60 seconds.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:04 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:04 pm: Liquid Oxygen topped off.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:04 pm: T-30 seconds. All go.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:05 pm: ELVCP reports launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:05 pm: T-30.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:05 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:05 pm: Launch confirmed
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:05 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:05 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:05 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:06 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:06 pm: Max Q.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:06 pm: Max-Q.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:06 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:07 pm: Solid motor sep, air start ignition!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:07 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:07 pm: SRB Separation.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:07 pm: Speed 3075 mph.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:08 pm: b
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:08 pm: Air-start sep!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:08 pm: Air Lift Motor separation:
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:08 pm: Air lit SRB sep.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:08 pm: 35.6 nm, downrange 124 nm.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:08 pm: Traveling 730 MPH
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:09 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:09 pm: 9874 mph.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:09 pm: "Rock-solid" chamber pressure.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: eeergo on 06/11/2008 04:09 pm: Has anyone noticed the sootish color one side of the vehicle had after liftoff? Probably the result of this pad throwing the exhaust liftoff gases upwards, but I hadn't noticed that in previous launches...
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:10 pm: MECO and VECO!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:10 pm: MECO! 1-2 sep, second stage start!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:10 pm: VECO and staging
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:10 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:11 pm: 4 and a half minutes in this Burn, good chamber pressure.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:12 pm: Altitude 89 nm, downrange 676.5 nm, 14200 mph.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:12 pm: Fairing sep.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:12 pm: fairings gone.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:13 pm: Antigua is now tracking.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:13 pm: Switched to Antigua long range tracking data.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:14 pm: Alt 104.4 nm, downrange 1080 nm, 15429 mph.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:14 pm: Free video now uploaded.

Delta II - GLAST Launch Video - June 11, 2008 (http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=13426.new#new)
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:15 pm: Alt 107.5 nm, downrange 1318 nm, 16247 mph.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 04:15 pm: SECO
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: BobF4321 on 06/11/2008 04:15 pm: Quote from: eeergo on 06/11/2008 04:09 pm
Has anyone noticed the sootish color one side of the vehicle had after liftoff? Probably the result of this pad throwing the exhaust liftoff gases upwards, but I hadn't noticed that in previous launches...

Also, the HDNet coverage showed some small grass fires around the pad... is this normal?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:16 pm: SECO 1.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:16 pm: SECO-1!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:16 pm: Quote from: BobF4321 on 06/11/2008 04:15 pm
Quote from: eeergo on 06/11/2008 04:09 pm
Has anyone noticed the sootish color one side of the vehicle had after liftoff? Probably the result of this pad throwing the exhaust liftoff gases upwards, but I hadn't noticed that in previous launches...

Also, the HDNet coverage showed some small grass fires around the pad... is this normal?

I'm guessing yes for obvious reasons. ;)
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:17 pm: Altitude 107.1 nm, downrange 1711 nm, 17193 mph.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:17 pm: SRT Shutdown.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ronsmytheiii on 06/11/2008 04:17 pm: Quote from: BobF4321 on 06/11/2008 04:15 pm
Quote from: eeergo on 06/11/2008 04:09 pm
Has anyone noticed the sootish color one side of the vehicle had after liftoff? Probably the result of this pad throwing the exhaust liftoff gases upwards, but I hadn't noticed that in previous launches...

Also, the HDNet coverage showed some small grass fires around the pad... is this normal?

It is normal, look at the Picture on the wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Delta_II_Dawn_liftoff_1.jpg
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:17 pm: Destruct system off.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Orbiter on 06/11/2008 04:17 pm: Signal from Antigua lost.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:18 pm: LOS through Antigua, normal. AOS through Kwajalein in about 56 minutes.

_{Thanks for posting, Nick L. :)}
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:18 pm: Antigua LOS. 56 minutes until acquisition by Kwajalein.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:18 pm: telemetry team
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:19 pm: Vehicle now in a parking orbit (coasting phase) for another 54 minutes or so.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: eeergo on 06/11/2008 04:19 pm: Quote from: Ronsmytheiii on 06/11/2008 04:17 pm

It is normal, look at the Picture on the wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Delta_II_Dawn_liftoff_1.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Delta_II_Dawn_liftoff_1.jpg)

I knew this pad makes Deltas shoot their exhaust upwards and engulf them in a cloud before lifting off, but I didn't notice that blackish tint along one side of the rocket before.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: C5C6 on 06/11/2008 04:20 pm: Thks for the updates...I always get scared when the smoke covers entirely the vehicle when the engines start.......fortunately......GLAST is already on its way!!!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:20 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: ChrisC on 06/11/2008 04:21 pm: Quote from: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:18 pm
Antigua LOS. 56 minutes until acquisition by Kwajalein.

Kwajalein shows up on the timeline as "RTS" because it is the Reagan Test Site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Ballistic_Missile_Defense_Test_Site
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:21 pm: Liftoff time 12:05.521 EDT.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:22 pm: 12:05.521 was the exact launch time.

Launch replays are now showing, and I am recording. To be posted soon after they are finished.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:22 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:22 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 04:23 pm: That thing was really hauling off the pad!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:23 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:24 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:25 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Lawntonlookirs on 06/11/2008 04:25 pm: Thanks to everyone for the great coverage. I was unable to get NASA Media TV so it was exciting following on NSF.

Did anyone notice what appeared to be something fallng off the rocket about 1:55 into the flight?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:25 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:26 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:26 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:28 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:29 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:31 pm
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Analyst on 06/11/2008 04:31 pm: Quote from: Lawntonlookirs on 06/11/2008 04:25 pm
Did anyone notice what appeared to be something fallng off the rocket about 2 minutes into the flight?

The 3 airlit solid rockets, a little after T+2min. Maybe cork.

Analyst
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Antares on 06/11/2008 04:31 pm: Is there a sequence of events somewhere?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 04:32 pm: Quote from: Antares on 06/11/2008 04:31 pm
Is there a sequence of events somewhere?

There's some at the www.ulalaunch.com site (front page).

http://www.ulalaunch.com/launch/glast/GLAST_MOB_R4_Layout_1.pdf
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 04:37 pm: End of launch replays
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 04:41 pm: Launch coverage to resume at 1:10 PM EDT.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: ShuttleDiscovery on 06/11/2008 04:55 pm: Wow great launch once agian!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 05:08 pm: About five minutes away from restart, webcast will resume in 2 mins, SC sep in 12.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 05:11 pm: 10 minutes from S/C sep.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 05:11 pm: Webcast back underway.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:12 pm: Launch Replays now uploaded.

Launch Replays of Delta II - GLAST Launch (http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=13426.0)
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 05:13 pm: Telemetry acquisition by Kwajalein.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:13 pm: Second stage ignition!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 05:13 pm: Second stage start!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Antares on 06/11/2008 05:14 pm: Quote from: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 04:32 pm
Quote from: Antares on 06/11/2008 04:31 pm
Is there a sequence of events somewhere?
There's some at the www.ulalaunch.com site (front page).

http://www.ulalaunch.com/launch/glast/GLAST_MOB_R4_Layout_1.pdf
Thanks I was confused when George said the first of four burns (wrong obviously).
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 05:14 pm: SECO-2 has occurred.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:14 pm: SECO-2!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 05:15 pm: About 5:30 to S/C separation.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:15 pm: Deploy in a little over 5 minutes.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:18 pm: Less than 2 minutes from S/C sep.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: William Graham on 06/11/2008 05:20 pm: GLAST has separated from the Delta II carrier rocket.

Launch was successful.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:20 pm: 1, 2, 3 and 4 separation nuts released.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:20 pm: Spacecraft separation!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 05:21 pm: SPACECRAFT SEPARATION!

Congrats to ULA and Delta, and good luck to GLAST! Job well done.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 05:21 pm: Great! Well done with the coverage everyone. Don't forget, there's another tomorrow with Ariane 5.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Felix on 06/11/2008 05:23 pm: congrats
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Lawntonlookirs on 06/11/2008 05:26 pm: Another great launch.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:30 pm: First array has deployed, and there is power!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: DaveS on 06/11/2008 05:31 pm: Solar arrays have been deployed!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 05:35 pm: GLAST post launch release...
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Ford Mustang on 06/11/2008 05:42 pm: About two weeks of system checks, then about 60 days of configuration of the spacecraft, then GLAST will start its first year of work.

Congratulations, ULA and Delta!

Live launch coverage has ended.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 06/11/2008 06:05 pm: RELEASE: 08-62

NASA'S GLAST LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. -- NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, successfully launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 12:05 p.m. EDT today.

The GLAST observatory separated from the second stage of the Delta II at 1:20 p.m. and the flight computer immediately began powering up the components necessary to control the satellite. Twelve minutes after separating from the launch vehicle, both GLAST solar arrays were deployed. The arrays immediately began producing the power necessary to maintain the satellite and instruments. The operations team continues to check out the spacecraft subsystems.

"The entire GLAST Team is elated the observatory is now on-orbit and all systems continue to operate as planned," said GLAST program manager Kevin Grady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

After a 75-minute flight, the GLAST spacecraft was deployed into low Earth orbit. It will begin to transmit initial instrument data after about three weeks. The telescope will explore the most extreme environments in the universe, searching for signs of new laws of physics and investigating what composes mysterious dark matter. It will seek explanations for how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and look for clues to crack the mysteries behind powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

"After a 60-day checkout and initial calibration period, we'll begin science operations," said Steve Ritz, GLAST project scientist at Goddard. "GLAST soon will be telling scientists about many new objects to study, and this information will be available on the internet for the world to see."

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

For more information about the GLAST mission, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: ChrisC on 06/11/2008 07:05 pm: Quote from: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 05:35 pm
GLAST post launch release...

Really? A DOC file? How amateurish. DOC files can be virus vectors. I ain't clicking on that.

Thanks for the coverage and links!
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: mikemr on 06/11/2008 07:13 pm: Did anyone notice an unusual vertically deflected solid booster plume at T-0? It deposited soot on the vehicle all the way up to the interstage. I don't recall seeing this on any Delta II launch before (but I've only seen a few score of them). It even made PAO Diller's commentary pause ("and ........ liftoff").
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 07:13 pm: Quote from: ChrisC on 06/11/2008 07:05 pm
Quote from: Chris Bergin on 06/11/2008 05:35 pm
GLAST post launch release...

Really? A DOC file? How amateurish. DOC files can be virus vectors. I ain't clicking on that.

United Virus Alliance Successfully Launches .doc Mission for Chris C's PC. ;)

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., (June 11, 2008) – A United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy rocket successfully launched the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) at 12:05 p.m. EDT, today. Blasting off from Space Launch Complex 17B here, it marked the first NASA mission conducted by ULA this year.
Following a 1 hour and 15 minute flight, the GLAST spacecraft was deployed on its journey and will begin to transmit photos and data beginning approximately three weeks after launch. The telescope will explore the most extreme environments in the Universe, seeking to understand what composes the mysterious dark matter, explaining how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and helping crack the mysteries of the exceptionally powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.
“Today’s launch was the culmination of tremendous teamwork by NASA, ULA and the Air Force to ensure that GLAST received a safe and accurate ride to orbit,” said Jim Sponnick, vice president, Delta Product Line “ULA has a long history of providing reliable launch services for NASA’s space exploration missions and we are honored to have played a vital role in supporting this critical mission that will help to unlock the mysteries our universe.”
NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the U.S.
The ULA Delta II Heavy 7920H configuration vehicle featured a ULA first stage booster powered by a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and nine Alliant Techsystems (ATK) strap-on solid rocket motors. An Aerojet AJ10-118K engine powered the second stage. The GLAST payload was protected during launch by a 10-foot-diameter composite payload fairing.
ULA began processing the Delta II launch vehicle in Decatur, Ala., nearly two years ago. In January, the second stage arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station from Decatur, followed by the first stage in February. The vehicle was erected on the stand at Pad 17-B March 26, with solid rocket motor installation completed by early April. Hundreds of ULA technicians, engineers and management worked to prepare the vehicle for the GLAST mission.
-more-
-2-
ULA’s next launch is the OSTM/Jason-2 mission for NASA scheduled for June 20 aboard a Delta II rocket from SLC-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
ULA program management, engineering, test and mission support functions are headquartered in Denver, Colo., supported by transition employees in Huntington Beach, Calif. Manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located at Decatur, Ala., Harlingen, Texas, San Diego, Calif., and Denver, Colo. Launch operations are located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
For more information on the ULA joint venture, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at 1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321).
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: marshallsplace on 06/11/2008 07:47 pm: Hot pic now available at :

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=4
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Jim on 06/11/2008 07:59 pm: Quote from: mikemr on 06/11/2008 07:13 pm
Did anyone notice an unusual vertically deflected solid booster plume at T-0? It deposited soot on the vehicle all the way up to the interstage. I don't recall seeing this on any Delta II launch before (but I've only seen a few score of them). It even made PAO Diller's commentary pause ("and ........ liftoff").

It happens on all B pads launches especially heavy launches. I am sure it didn't make George pause.

Look at Dawn, MER B, SIRTF, etc launches
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: John44 on 06/11/2008 09:07 pm: DELTA 2 - GLAST LAUNCH
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3846&Itemid=2

DELTA 2 - GLAST LAUNCH REPLAYS
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3845&Itemid=2
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Antares on 06/11/2008 10:23 pm: I remember seeing that ignition cloud obscure the vehicle on MER B (the first D-II Heavy and a night launch) and just looking back down at my telemetry, thinking "well, if I can still see this, the rocket is still there."
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 11:22 pm: Quote from: mikemr on 06/11/2008 07:13 pm
Did anyone notice an unusual vertically deflected solid booster plume at T-0? It deposited soot on the vehicle all the way up to the interstage. I don't recall seeing this on any Delta II launch before (but I've only seen a few score of them). It even made PAO Diller's commentary pause ("and ........ liftoff").

I think he paused because there was more time between main engine start and liftoff than he was expecting. I've seen many launches where the commentator hesitates because he/she is waiting for movement before saying that it lifted off. It would be embarrassing for him to say "liftoff" and then having a pad abort... :)

The big cloud is normal, it's just because of the larger solid motors.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: edkyle99 on 06/12/2008 02:53 am: Quote from: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 11:22 pm

The big cloud is normal, it's just because of the larger solid motors.

It is also because Pad 17B has a different exhaust duct configuration than Pad 17A. This configuration was part of the pad's conversion for Delta 3. Ever since, a similar cloud has risen for every launch, including standard Delta 2 launches, from the "B" pad.

- Ed Kyle
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/12/2008 10:41 pm: Quote from: edkyle99 on 06/12/2008 02:53 am
Quote from: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 11:22 pm

The big cloud is normal, it's just because of the larger solid motors.

It is also because Pad 17B has a different exhaust duct configuration than Pad 17A. This configuration was part of the pad's conversion for Delta 3. Ever since, a similar cloud has risen for every launch, including standard Delta 2 launches, from the "B" pad.

- Ed Kyle

How is it different? Or is that ITAR? ;)

Interesting that the soot has become a concern. I feel like I'd seen soot like that before on Delta IIs. I'd imagine if GEMs can withstand a Delta IV-style fireball they can handle a lot, but that's just my supposition...
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: mikemr on 06/13/2008 12:17 am: What a fantastic forum, thanks for all the info on my SRM exhaust comment.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: robertross on 06/13/2008 01:43 am: I want to thank all who posted the play-by-play on this launch. I was away travelling and missed all but a call of successful launch. I felt like I went through it live!
Great job.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: edkyle99 on 06/13/2008 04:34 am: Quote from: Nick L. on 06/12/2008 10:41 pm
Quote from: edkyle99 on 06/12/2008 02:53 am
Quote from: Nick L. on 06/11/2008 11:22 pm

The big cloud is normal, it's just because of the larger solid motors.

It is also because Pad 17B has a different exhaust duct configuration than Pad 17A. This configuration was part of the pad's conversion for Delta 3. Ever since, a similar cloud has risen for every launch, including standard Delta 2 launches, from the "B" pad.

- Ed Kyle

How is it different? Or is that ITAR? ;)

Interesting that the soot has become a concern. I feel like I'd seen soot like that before on Delta IIs. I'd imagine if GEMs can withstand a Delta IV-style fireball they can handle a lot, but that's just my supposition...

The attached NASA photo shows some obvious differences, with 17A on the right and 17B on the left. 17B has three exhaust ducts with rectangular cross sections, which implies a flame deflector setup that diverts exhaust in three directions. 17A just has a basic flame deflector ramp and no exhaust ducts. I don't know the details (there might be differing water deluge systems for example), but I think that the exhaust duct arrangement creates the big vertical "puff" of smoke that appears during 17B launches that does not show itself on 17A launches.

Hopefully, someone who knows more will fill in the details.

- Ed Kyle
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: edkyle99 on 06/13/2008 05:51 pm: Quote from: Nick L. on 06/12/2008 10:41 pm
Quote from: edkyle99 on 06/12/2008 02:53 am

Pad 17B has a different exhaust duct configuration than Pad 17A.

How is it different? Or is that ITAR? ;)

Here are some more details about 17B. ITAR I know not about, since I don't work at the Cape, but the following is from open literature regardless.

17B was modified for Delta III so that it could suppress/handle the larger acoustic loads created by the more powerful GEM-46 strap-on boosters. Before the modifications, 17B and 17A both used relatively simple, open "J-turn" flame deflector ramps.

Modifications included the creation of an enclosed "flame bucket" with side walls that fed a 150 foot long covered flame duct. This is the long duct that heads east, away from the mobile service tower side of the pad. An interesting, even odd feature of this duct is the presence of a "louvered flow port" on the top of the duct just east of the launch stand. From these louvers apparently flow the distinctive 17B rising exhaust plumes. Note that this rising, vertical exhaust appears *before* the solids ignite, indicating that it is initially created by the RS-27A exhaust. Once the solids ignite, the overall exhaust flow appears to be forced more into the long covered flame duct.

It seems that an initial period of stagnant flow in the duct, a kind of fluid-dynamics inertia, must be overcome before the vertical cloud dissipates. Once the duct flow speeds up, some of the initial vertical cloud is actually sucked back down through the louvers into the duct!

Two shorter "auxiliary" ducts were also added to 17B. These are fed from the flame bucket and point northwest and southwest, generally. How these work, exactly, I don't know. I do know that they don't show exhaust when the RS-27A ignites. Exhaust leaps from these auxiliary ducts only when the solids ignite.

The pad has a water suppression system that uses more water than 17A.

It seems to me that this pad uses a pretty complex exhaust ducting system that may not yet be 100% understood. The first launch from the newly modified 17B created some concern, for example, when an unexpected pitching force was applied to the standard Delta II launch vehicle at liftoff. The louvered flow port was modified after that launch, and the "J-duct" was also modified. (The new style exhaust plume also knocked down the perimeter fence along with two large trees east of the perimeter during this launch.)

It is my understanding that Pad 17A will soon be closed, leaving only 17B to handle the now-less-than 20 remaining Delta 2 launches.

This seems to be "flame trench/flame duct" month at the Florida launch sites, for some reason.

- Ed Kyle
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: edkyle99 on 06/13/2008 07:23 pm: I will now add only one more message on this subject, concerning the two attached images of this Delta 333 launch.

The first image shows something funky happening on or near one of the SRMs. I don't know what this is. Perhaps it is ice falling from above, or something blowing up from below, or some material ripping away from the SRM casing.

The second image shows a "puff" coming out of the side of the 150 foot long flame duct. A leaky duct is probably not part of the plan, but this doesn't look serious on the face of it.

- Ed Kyle
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Stephan on 06/13/2008 07:29 pm: Launch seen from the beach : http://viavca.in2p3.fr/glast_beach.html
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: edkyle99 on 06/14/2008 08:01 pm: O.K. ONE more message. ;)

I found two photos that show more details of Pad 17B, both of Delta 319 during NASA's 2006 STEREO mission.

The first photo shows the launch mount, with the famous "louvers" visible behind the rocket. It appears that a series of panels are still in place around the base of the vehicle that will be removed prior to launch. They appear to be arranged to divert some of the SRM exhaust into the three flame ducts discussed in a previous message. Note that this photo was taken before all nine SRMs had been added to the launch vehicle.

The second photo is the only one I've seen that actually shows part of the flame bucket. Here, one of the flame deflectors that divert SRM exhaust into one of the two "auxiliary" flame ducts is visible. A movable section of the auxiliary flame duct would have been rolled into position in front of this deflector prior to launch (it has to be moved to allow the mobile service tower to fit around the pad).

- Ed Kyle
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: eeergo on 06/14/2008 08:31 pm: That's what I call an exhaustive study, thanks for so much insight Ed, it was a pleasure reading it. I didn't realise the vertical cloud came from the main engine, probably because it only acquires full thrust almost at the same time the solids ignite.

The details about the fence and the large trees are very interesting, along with the fact that the trench was slightly modified for this launch, which I assume was probably the reason for the anomalous soot. Risking being greedy, are there any photos available of the damage?

And please keep us posted pad rat :)
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Nick L. on 06/15/2008 01:16 am: Interesting reading, Ed, very exhaustive. I knew the pad had been modified for Delta III but not what was changed. Thanks! :)
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 07/02/2008 02:47 pm: RELEASE NO. 08-65

GLAST MISSION OPERATIONS AT NASA GODDARD POWERED UP

GREENBELT, Md. - Several bases of operations for NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) are gearing up for data from the recently launched satellite.

Operations centers preparing for data from GLAST include NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park, Calif.

NASA Goddard is responsible for several aspects of GLAST's mission as it begins transmitting data for the world to see. The GLAST Mission Operations Center (MOC) and the GLAST Science Support Center (GSSC) were provided by and are located at NASA Goddard.

The second operation is the Large Area Telescope (LAT) Instrument Science Operations Center (ISOC) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), in Menlo Park, Calif. The ISOC is responsible for maximizing the LAT's science performance in the areas of Flight Operations, Science Operations and the development of Science Analysis Systems.

The ISOC’s Key Functions include command planning, generating and validating commands and command sequences, monitoring the LAT's health and safety, maintaining and modifying flight software, verifying and optimizing LAT performance, processing and archiving LAT science data, maintaining and optimizing the software that produces science data products and distributing science data products and instrument analysis tools to the LAT Collaboration and the GLAST Science Support Center (GSSC).

ISOC manager Rob Cameron from SLAC said, “Powering up the LAT has been even smoother than we had hoped. Everything has worked well—in fact, it’s going great. We’re already receiving high-quality data that we can use to get the instrument ready for the best science return.”

The observatory is commanded from the Mission Operations Center (MOC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and during the present initial on-orbit commissioning phase is staffed by a team from across the mission, including from SLAC.

The third operations area is at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Marshall hosts the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM) Instrument Operations Center. Located at the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, Ala., operations personnel and scientists working in the GBM Instrument Operations Center will scrutinize the health of the monitor and enjoy a first-hand peek at ground-breaking new gamma ray science. The NSSTC is a partnership between NASA, the state of Alabama and several universities.

The GLAST Science Support Center (GSSC) will serve as the primary interface between the GLAST mission and the scientific community. The GSSC will support the planning and scheduling of science observations, as well as establishing and maintaining a publicly accessible archive of all GLAST data products. Data analysis software and documentation will also be maintained and disseminated by the GSSC. In addition, the GSSC administers the guest investigator program for NASA HQ providing proposal preparation tools, documentation as well as technical and scientific support.

"As manager of the GLAST Science Support Center (GSSC), my most important responsibility is to facilitate broad community involvement in the science,” said Chris Schrader of NASA Goddard. "The GSSC will provide access to the GLAST data, the software to analyze those data, and assist scientists from the U.S. and abroad who wish to become involved in this exciting new endeavor."

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

For images and related information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/GSFC_powerup.html

For more information on GLAST, please visit:

www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: jacqmans on 08/19/2008 06:59 pm: MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-156

NASA TO ANNOUNCE NEW NAME FOR GLAST, FIRST LIGHT FINDINGS

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference on Tuesday, Aug.
26, at 2 p.m. EDT, to announce the first results from NASA's
Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope and the observatory's new name.
The telecon also will include the Large Area Telescope's first light
results, and a presentation of gamma-ray bursts that the GLAST Burst
Monitor has seen since it went into operation.

Briefing participants:
- Jon Morse, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters,
Washington
- Dennis Kovar, associate director of science for high energy physics,
U.S. Department of Energy, Germantown, Md.
- Steve Ritz, GLAST project scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Peter Michelson, Large Area Telescope principal investigator,
Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.
- Chip Meegan, GLAST Burst Monitor principal investigator, NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

To participate in the teleconference, reporters should e-mail a
request to J.D. Harrington by 1 p.m., Aug. 26. They must include
their media affiliation and telephone number. Supporting information
for the briefing will be posted at 1 p.m., Aug. 26, at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/glast_findings_media.html

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For more information about the GLAST mission on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/glast
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: jcm on 08/26/2008 07:06 pm: And now GLAST is the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST), named after Enrico Fermi.
First light results at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/glast_findings_media.html

- Jonathan
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: faustod on 08/27/2008 05:46 am: Quote from: jcm on 08/26/2008 07:06 pm
And now GLAST is the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST), named after Enrico Fermi.
First light results at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/glast_findings_media.html

- Jonathan

As Italian, I am very happy to know this nomination.
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: animaux on 08/28/2008 08:47 am: Quote from: jcm on 08/26/2008 07:06 pm
And now GLAST is the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST), named after Enrico Fermi.
First light results at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/glast_findings_media.html

- Jonathan

I must say I am slightly annoyed that there is no mention of the request of suggestions or actually any suggestions sent in at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/glast_renamed.html

I don’t expect them to mention all the gazillion people who suggested Fermi, but why do they not mention the whole »request for suggestions from the public«, or if they even considered the suggestions, at all?
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: Jim on 08/28/2008 11:26 am: Not every spacecraft has one or needs a public naming contest
Title: Re: LIVE: Delta II - GLAST mission - June 11, 2008
Post by: edkyle99 on 08/28/2008 02:10 pm: Quote from: faustod on 08/27/2008 05:46 am
Quote from: jcm on 08/26/2008 07:06 pm
And now GLAST is the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST), named after Enrico Fermi.
First light results at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/glast_findings_media.html

- Jonathan

As Italian, I am very happy to know this nomination.

CERN will soon eclipse Fermilab, here in the Chicago area. There aren't any plans to shut Fermilab down any time soon, but the writing is on the wall. Perhaps this is a chance to pass the name on.

- Ed Kyle
Title: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 11/10/2010 03:49 am: RELEASE: 10-295

NASA'S FERMI TELESCOPE DISCOVERS GIANT STRUCTURE IN OUR GALAXY

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has unveiled a
previously unseen structure centered in the Milky Way. The feature
spans 50,000 light-years and may be the remnant of an eruption from a
supersized black hole at the center of our galaxy.

"What we see are two gamma-ray-emitting bubbles that extend 25,000
light-years north and south of the galactic center," said Doug
Finkbeiner, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., who first recognized the feature.
"We don't fully understand their nature or origin."

The structure spans more than half of the visible sky, from the
constellation Virgo to the constellation Grus, and it may be millions
of years old. A paper about the findings has been accepted for
publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Finkbeiner and Harvard graduate students Meng Su and Tracy Slatyer
discovered the bubbles by processing publicly available data from
Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT). The LAT is the most sensitive and
highest-resolution gamma-ray detector ever launched. Gamma rays are
the highest-energy form of light.

Other astronomers studying gamma rays hadn't detected the bubbles
partly because of a fog of gamma rays that appears throughout the
sky. The fog happens when particles moving near the speed of light
interact with light and interstellar gas in the Milky Way. The LAT
team constantly refines models to uncover new gamma-ray sources
obscured by this so-called diffuse emission. By using various
estimates of the fog, Finkbeiner and his colleagues were able to
isolate it from the LAT data and unveil the giant bubbles.

Scientists now are conducting more analyses to better understand how
the never-before-seen structure was formed. The bubble emissions are
much more energetic than the gamma-ray fog seen elsewhere in the
Milky Way. The bubbles also appear to have well-defined edges. The
structure's shape and emissions suggest it was formed as a result of
a large and relatively rapid energy release -- the source of which
remains a mystery.

One possibility includes a particle jet from the supermassive black
hole at the galactic center. In many other galaxies, astronomers see
fast particle jets powered by matter falling toward a central black
hole. While there is no evidence the Milky Way's black hole has such
a jet today, it may have in the past. The bubbles also may have
formed as a result of gas outflows from a burst of star formation,
perhaps the one that produced many massive star clusters in the Milky
Way's center several million years ago.

"In other galaxies, we see that starbursts can drive enormous gas
outflows," said David Spergel, a scientist at Princeton University in
New Jersey. "Whatever the energy source behind these huge bubbles may
be, it is connected to many deep questions in astrophysics."

Hints of the bubbles appear in earlier spacecraft data. X-ray
observations from the German-led Roentgen Satellite suggested subtle
evidence for bubble edges close to the galactic center, or in the
same orientation as the Milky Way. NASA's Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe detected an excess of radio signals at the position
of the gamma-ray bubbles.

The Fermi LAT team also revealed Tuesday the instrument's best picture
of the gamma-ray sky, the result of two years of data collection.

"Fermi scans the entire sky every three hours, and as the mission
continues and our exposure deepens, we see the extreme universe in
progressively greater detail," said Julie McEnery, Fermi project
scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
NASA's Fermi is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership,
developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, with
important contributions from academic institutions and partners in
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States.

"Since its launch in June 2008, Fermi repeatedly has proven itself to
be a frontier facility, giving us new insights ranging from the
nature of space-time to the first observations of a gamma-ray nova,"
said Jon Morse, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters
in Washington. "These latest discoveries continue to demonstrate
Fermi's outstanding performance."

For more information about Fermi, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: robertross on 11/10/2010 03:17 pm: Quote from: jacqmans on 11/10/2010 03:49 am
RELEASE: 10-295

NASA'S FERMI TELESCOPE DISCOVERS GIANT STRUCTURE IN OUR GALAXY

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi

That's cool!
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 01/11/2011 07:52 am: RELEASE: 11-008

NASA'S FERMI CATCHES THUNDERSTORMS HURLING ANTIMATTER INTO SPACE

WASHINGTON -- Scientists using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
have detected beams of antimatter produced above thunderstorms on
Earth, a phenomenon never seen before.

Scientists think the antimatter particles were formed in a terrestrial
gamma-ray flash (TGF), a brief burst produced inside thunderstorms
and shown to be associated with lightning. It is estimated that about
500 TGFs occur daily worldwide, but most go undetected.

"These signals are the first direct evidence that thunderstorms make
antimatter particle beams," said Michael Briggs, a member of Fermi's
Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) team at the University of Alabama in
Huntsville (UAH). He presented the findings Monday, during a news
briefing at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle.

Fermi is designed to monitor gamma rays, the highest energy form of
light. When antimatter striking Fermi collides with a particle of
normal matter, both particles immediately are annihilated and
transformed into gamma rays. The GBM has detected gamma rays with
energies of 511,000 electron volts, a signal indicating an electron
has met its antimatter counterpart, a positron.

Although Fermi's GBM is designed to observe high-energy events in the
universe, it's also providing valuable insights into this strange
phenomenon. The GBM constantly monitors the entire celestial sky
above and the Earth below. The GBM team has identified 130 TGFs since
Fermi's launch in 2008.

"In orbit for less than three years, the Fermi mission has proven to
be an amazing tool to probe the universe. Now we learn that it can
discover mysteries much, much closer to home," said Ilana Harrus,
Fermi program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The spacecraft was located immediately above a thunderstorm for most
of the observed TGFs, but in four cases, storms were far from Fermi.
In addition, lightning-generated radio signals detected by a global
monitoring network indicated the only lightning at the time was
hundreds or more miles away. During one TGF, which occurred on Dec.
14, 2009, Fermi was located over Egypt. But the active storm was in
Zambia, some 2,800 miles to the south. The distant storm was below
Fermi's horizon, so any gamma rays it produced could not have been
detected.

"Even though Fermi couldn't see the storm, the spacecraft nevertheless
was magnetically connected to it," said Joseph Dwyer at the Florida
Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla. "The TGF produced
high-speed electrons and positrons, which then rode up Earth's
magnetic field to strike the spacecraft."

The beam continued past Fermi, reached a location, known as a mirror
point, where its motion was reversed, and then hit the spacecraft a
second time just 23 milliseconds later. Each time, positrons in the
beam collided with electrons in the spacecraft. The particles
annihilated each other, emitting gamma rays detected by Fermi's GBM.

Scientists long have suspected TGFs arise from the strong electric
fields near the tops of thunderstorms. Under the right conditions,
they say, the field becomes strong enough that it drives an upward
avalanche of electrons. Reaching speeds nearly as fast as light, the
high-energy electrons give off gamma rays when they're deflected by
air molecules. Normally, these gamma rays are detected as a TGF.

But the cascading electrons produce so many gamma rays that they blast
electrons and positrons clear out of the atmosphere. This happens
when the gamma-ray energy transforms into a pair of particles: an
electron and a positron. It's these particles that reach Fermi's
orbit.

The detection of positrons shows many high-energy particles are being
ejected from the atmosphere. In fact, scientists now think that all
TGFs emit electron/positron beams. A paper on the findings has been
accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters.

"The Fermi results put us a step closer to understanding how TGFs
work," said Steven Cummer at Duke University. "We still have to
figure out what is special about these storms and the precise role
lightning plays in the process."

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle
physics partnership. It is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md. It was developed in collaboration with the
U.S. Department of Energy, with important contributions from academic
institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden
and the United States.

The GBM Instrument Operations Center is located at the National Space
Science Technology Center in Huntsville, Ala. The team includes a
collaboration of scientists from UAH, NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial
Physics in Germany and other institutions.

For more Fermi information, images and animations, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 05/12/2011 03:26 am: RELEASE: 11-146

NASA'S FERMI SPOTS 'SUPERFLARES' IN THE CRAB NEBULA

WASHINGTON -- The famous Crab Nebula supernova remnant has erupted in
an enormous flare five times more powerful than any flare previously
seen from the object. On April 12, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space
Telescope first detected the outburst, which lasted six days.

The nebula is the wreckage of an exploded star that emitted light
which reached Earth in the year 1054. It is located 6,500 light-years
away in the constellation Taurus. At the heart of an expanding gas
cloud lies what is left of the original star's core, a superdense
neutron star that spins 30 times a second. With each rotation, the
star swings intense beams of radiation toward Earth, creating the
pulsed emission characteristic of spinning neutron stars (also known
as pulsars).

Apart from these pulses, astrophysicists believed the Crab Nebula was
a virtually constant source of high-energy radiation. But in January,
scientists associated with several orbiting observatories, including
NASA's Fermi, Swift and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, reported
long-term brightness changes at X-ray energies.

"The Crab Nebula hosts high-energy variability that we're only now
fully appreciating," said Rolf Buehler, a member of the Fermi Large
Area Telescope (LAT) team at the Kavli Institute for Particle
Astrophysics and Cosmology, a facility jointly located at the
Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and
Stanford University.

Since 2009, Fermi and the Italian Space Agency's AGILE satellite have
detected several short-lived gamma-ray flares at energies greater
than 100 million electron volts (eV) -- hundreds of times higher than
the nebula's observed X-ray variations. For comparison, visible light
has energies between 2 and 3 eV.

On April 12, Fermi's LAT, and later AGILE, detected a flare that grew
about 30 times more energetic than the nebula's normal gamma-ray
output and about five times more powerful than previous outbursts. On
April 16, an even brighter flare erupted, but within a couple of
days, the unusual activity completely faded out.

"These superflares are the most intense outbursts we've seen to date,
and they are all extremely puzzling events," said Alice Harding at
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We think they
are caused by sudden rearrangements of the magnetic field not far
from the neutron star, but exactly where that's happening remains a
mystery."

The Crab's high-energy emissions are thought to be the result of
physical processes that tap into the neutron star's rapid spin.
Theorists generally agree the flares must arise within about
one-third of a light-year from the neutron star, but efforts to
locate them more precisely have proven unsuccessful so far.

Since September 2010, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory routinely has
monitored the nebula in an effort to identify X-ray emission
associated with the outbursts. When Fermi scientists alerted
astronomers to the onset of a new flare, Martin Weisskopf and Allyn
Tennant at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.,
triggered a set of pre-planned observations using Chandra.

"Thanks to the Fermi alert, we were fortunate that our planned
observations actually occurred when the flares were brightest in
gamma rays," Weisskopf said. "Despite Chandra's excellent resolution,
we detected no obvious changes in the X-ray structures in the nebula
and surrounding the pulsar that could be clearly associated with the
flare."

Scientists think the flares occur as the intense magnetic field near
the pulsar undergoes sudden restructuring. Such changes can
accelerate particles like electrons to velocities near the speed of
light. As these high-speed electrons interact with the magnetic
field, they emit gamma rays.

To account for the observed emission, scientists say the electrons
must have energies 100 times greater than can be achieved in any
particle accelerator on Earth. This makes them the highest-energy
electrons known to be associated with any galactic source. Based on
the rise and fall of gamma rays during the April outbursts,
scientists estimate that the size of the emitting region must be
comparable in size to the solar system.

NASA's Fermi is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership
managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and
developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, with
important contributions from academic institutions and partners in
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States.

The Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight
operations from Cambridge, Mass.

For more information, images and video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 11/03/2011 09:21 pm: RELEASE: 11-372

NASA'S FERMI FINDS YOUNGEST MILLISECOND PULSAR, 100 PULSARS TO-DATE

WASHINGTON -- An international team of scientists using NASA's Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered a surprisingly powerful
millisecond pulsar that challenges existing theories about how these
objects form.

At the same time, another team has located nine new gamma-ray pulsars
in Fermi data, using improved analytical techniques.

A pulsar is a type of neutron star that emits electromagnetic energy
at periodic intervals. A neutron star is the closest thing to a black
hole that astronomers can observe directly, crushing half a million
times more mass than Earth into a sphere no larger than a city. This
matter is so compressed that even a teaspoonful weighs as much as
Mount Everest.

"With this new batch of pulsars, Fermi now has detected more than 100,
which is an exciting milestone when you consider that, before Fermi's
launch in 2008, only seven of them were known to emit gamma rays,"
said Pablo Saz Parkinson, an astrophysicist at the Santa Cruz
Institute for Particle Physics at the University of California Santa
Cruz, and a co-author on two papers detailing the findings.

One group of pulsars combines incredible density with extreme
rotation. The fastest of these so-called millisecond pulsars whirls
at 43,000 revolutions per minute.

Millisecond pulsars are thought to achieve such speeds because they
are gravitationally bound in binary systems with normal stars. During
part of their stellar lives, gas flows from the normal star to the
pulsar. Over time, the impact of this falling gas gradually spins up
the pulsar's rotation.

The strong magnetic fields and rapid rotation of pulsars cause them to
emit powerful beams of energy, from radio waves to gamma rays.
Because the star is transferring rotational energy to the pulsar, the
pulsar's spin eventually slows as the star loses matter.

Typically, millisecond pulsars are around a billion years old.
However, in the Nov. 3 issue of Science, the Fermi team reveals a
bright, energetic millisecond pulsar only 25 million years old.

The object, named PSR J1823â^'3021A, lies within NGC 6624, a spherical
collection of ancient stars called a globular cluster, one of about
160 similar objects that orbit our galaxy. The cluster is about 10
billion years old and lies about 27,000 light-years away toward the
constellation Sagittarius.

Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) showed that eleven globular
clusters emit gamma rays, the cumulative emission of dozens of
millisecond pulsars too faint for even Fermi to detect individually.
But that's not the case for NGC 6624.

"It's amazing that all of the gamma rays we see from this cluster are
coming from a single object. It must have formed recently based on
how rapidly it's emitting energy. It's a bit like finding a screaming
baby in a quiet retirement home," said Paulo Freire, the study's lead
author, at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn,
Germany.

J1823â^'3021A was previously identified as a pulsar by its radio
emission, yet of the nine new pulsars, none are millisecond pulsars,
and only one was later found to emit radio waves.

Despite its sensitivity, Fermi's LAT may detect only one gamma ray for
every 100,000 rotations of some of these faint pulsars. Yet new
analysis techniques applied to the precise position and arrival time
of photons collected by the LAT since 2008 were able to identify
them.

"We adapted methods originally devised for studying gravitational
waves to the problem of finding gamma-ray pulsars, and we were
quickly rewarded," said Bruce Allen, director of the Max Planck
Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover, Germany. Allen
co-authored a paper on the discoveries that was published online
today in The Astrophysical Journal.

Allen also directs the Einstein@Home project, a distributed computing
effort that uses downtime on computers of volunteers to process
astronomical data. In July, the project extended the search for
gamma-ray pulsars to the general public by including Femi LAT data in
the work processed by Einstein@Home users.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle
physics partnership. It is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md. It was developed in collaboration with the
U.S. Department of Energy, with important contributions from academic
institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden
and the United States.

For more information, images and animations, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 01/10/2012 07:33 pm: RELEASE: 12-010

NASA'S FERMI SPACE TELESCOPE EXPLORES NEW ENERGY EXTREMES

WASHINGTON -- After more than three years in space, NASA's Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope is extending its view of the high-energy
sky into a largely unexplored electromagnetic range. Today, the Fermi
team announced its first census of energy sources in this new realm.

Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) scans the entire sky every three
hours, continually deepening its portrait of the sky in gamma rays,
the most energetic form of light. While the energy of visible light
falls between about 2 and 3 electron volts, the LAT detects gamma
rays with energies ranging from 20 million to more than 300 billion
electron volts (GeV).

At higher energies, gamma rays are rare. Above 10 GeV, even Fermi's
LAT detects only one gamma ray every four months.

"Before Fermi, we knew of only four discrete sources above 10 GeV, all
of them pulsars," said David Thompson, an astrophysicist at NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "With the LAT, we've
found hundreds, and we're showing for the first time just how diverse
the sky is at these high energies."

Any object producing gamma rays at these energies is undergoing
extraordinary astrophysical processes. More than half of the 496
sources in the new census are active galaxies, where matter falling
into a supermassive black hole powers jets that spray out particles
at nearly the speed of light.

Only about 10 percent of the known sources lie within our own galaxy.
They include rapidly rotating neutron stars called pulsars, the
expanding debris from supernova explosions, and in a few cases,
binary systems containing massive stars.

More than a third of the sources are completely unknown, having no
identified counterpart detected in other parts of the spectrum. With
the new catalog, astronomers will be able to compare the behavior of
different sources across a wider span of gamma-ray energies for the
first time.

Just as bright infrared sources may fade to invisibility in the
ultraviolet, some of the gamma-ray sources above 1 GeV vanish
completely when viewed at higher, or "harder," energies.

One example is the well-known radio galaxy NGC 1275, which is a
bright, isolated source below 10 GeV. At higher energies it fades
appreciably and another nearby source begins to appear. Above 100
GeV, NGC 1275 becomes undetectable by Fermi, while the new source,
the radio galaxy IC 310, shines brightly.

The Fermi hard-source list is the product of an international team led
by Pascal Fortin at the Ecole Polytechnique's Laboratoire
Leprince-Ringuet in Palaiseau, France, and David Paneque at the Max
Planck Institute for Physics in Munich.

The catalog serves as an important roadmap for ground-based facilities
called Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, which have amassed about 130
gamma-ray sources with energies above 100 GeV. They include the Major
Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescope (MAGIC) on La Palma in
the Canary Islands, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope
Array System (VERITAS) in Arizona, and the High Energy Stereoscopic
System (H.E.S.S.) in Namibia.

"Our catalog will have a significant impact on ground-based
facilities' work by pointing them to the most likely places to find
gamma-ray sources emitting above 100 GeV," Paneque said.

Compared to Fermi's LAT, these ground-based observatories have much
smaller fields of view. They also make fewer observations because
they cannot operate during daytime, bad weather or a full moon.

"As Fermi's exposure constantly improves our view of hard sources,
ground-based telescopes are becoming more sensitive to lower-energy
gamma rays, allowing us to bridge these two energy regimes," Fortin
added.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle
physics partnership. Fermi is managed by Goddard. It was developed in
collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, with important
contributions from academic institutions and partners in France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States.

For images related to this story, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: Artyom. on 07/30/2012 08:58 am: Gamma-Ray Glow Hints at Dark Matter in the Center of Our Galaxy

The coming decade will be the decade of dark matter, some scientists say, as efforts to detect the mysterious stuff will either pay off or rule out the most promising hypothesis about what it is. But astronomers may have already detected signs of dark matter in the heart of our own Milky Way galaxy, a pair of astrophysicists now says.

Data from NASA's space-borne Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveal an excess of gamma-rays coming from the galactic center that could be produced as particles of dark matter annihilate one another, Kevork Abazajian and Manoj Kaplinghat of the University of California, Irvine, report in a paper posted to the arXiv preprint server. "There's definitely some source there, and it fits with the dark matter interpretation," Abazajian says. But other researchers say the excess could be an artifact of the way Abazajian and Kaplinghat model the gamma-ray flux, or it could originate from more-mundane sources.

Astronomers have ample evidence that dark matter provides most of the gravity that keeps stars from flying out of the galaxies. And cosmologists have shown that it makes up 85% of all matter in the universe. But physicists don't know what dark matter is.

The leading hypothesis is that dark matter could be made up of weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, which are predicted by some theories. WIMPs would be massive enough to produce lots of gravity but would otherwise interact with ordinary matter only very weakly. Each galaxy would form within a vast cloud of WIMPs.

Physicists are searching for WIMPs in several ways. Some are trying to spot them using exquisitely sensitive underground detectors. Others hope to produce WIMPs at the world's largest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. WIMPs might also annihilate one another when they collide to produce ordinary particles such as gamma rays, and astrophysicists are combing the heavens for signs of such annihilations.

Abazajian and Kaplinghat say that the more than 400 researchers working with the Fermi satellite may have already found that evidence. The two theorists analyzed data collected between August 2008 to June 2012, focusing on a 7-degree-by-7-degree patch of sky around the galactic center. For each of four energy ranges, they mapped the emission across the sky. They fit each map with a "baseline model" that included 17 point-like sources of gamma rays that Fermi had already found in that area, a "diffuse" background that accounts for the general emission from the galactic center, and a spatially uniform background.

They then fit the data with another model that included a contribution from dark matter annihilations, including theoretical estimates of the dark matter's distribution and how the particle annihilations produce gamma rays. Adding the dark matter annihilations greatly improved the fit, they found, suggesting that there is an excess of gamma rays that come from dark matter.

Other researchers, including Daniel Hooper of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, have made similar claims. In fact, Abazajian had previously argued against that interpretation. But the new analysis shows that the dark-matter hypothesis fits the data in three key ways, Abazajian says: It has the right energy distribution, the right spatial distribution, and the right intensity. "When I saw that I was like, 'Holy cow!' " he says. Abazajian cautions, however, that the gamma rays could emanate from a less exotic source, such as previously undetected pulsars.

They might also be explained in an even easier way, says Stefano Profumo, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a member of the Fermi-satellite team. Abazajian and Hooper's analyses depend critically on the model of the diffuse galactic background, Profumo says. That model had been derived to describe a much bigger area around the galactic center, he says, and is "completely blind to the details at the galactic center." So its use the fits to the data could produce misleading results, he cautions. Still, Profumo agrees that the galactic center is a prime place to look for evidence of dark matter.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/07/gamma-ray-glow-hints-at-dark-mat.html?ref=hp
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 10/29/2012 04:49 pm: MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-209

NASA'S FERMI TO REVEAL NEW FINDINGS ABOUT THE EARLY UNIVERSE

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT on
Thursday, Nov. 1, to discuss new measurements using gamma rays to
investigate ancient starlight with the agency's Fermi Gamma-ray Space
Telescope.

Science Journal has embargoed details until 2 p.m. on Nov. 1.

The teleconference panelists are:

- Justin Finke, astrophysicist, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington
- Marco Ajello, astrophysicist, Kavli Institute for Particle
Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, and the Space
Sciences Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley
- Volker Bromm, associate professor, department of astronomy,
University of Texas at Austin

For dial-in information, journalists should e-mail their name, media
affiliation and telephone number to J.D. Harrington at
[email protected].

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website
at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For more information about NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: catdlr on 12/06/2012 05:34 pm: NASA | Fermi's Finds Radio Bursts from Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes

Published on Dec 6, 2012 by NASAexplorer

Lightning in the clouds is directly linked to events that produce some of the highest-energy light naturally made on Earth: terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). An instrument aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was recently fine-tuned to better catch TGFs, and this allowed scientists to discover that TGFs emit radio waves, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2tngd9F8N4
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 12/06/2012 06:05 pm: RELEASE: 12-424

FERMI IMPROVES ITS VISION FOR THUNDERSTORM GAMMA-RAY FLASHES

WASHINGTON -- Thanks to improved data analysis techniques and a new
operating mode, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard NASA's Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope is now 10 times better at catching the
brief outbursts of high-energy light mysteriously produced above
thunderstorms.

The outbursts, known as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), last
only a few thousandths of a second, but their gamma rays rank among
the highest-energy light that naturally occurs on Earth. The enhanced
GBM discovery rate helped scientists show most TGFs also generate a
strong burst of radio waves, a finding that will change how
scientists study this poorly understood phenomenon.

Before being upgraded, the GBM could capture only TGFs that were
bright enough to trigger the instrument's on-board system, which
meant many weaker events were missed.

"In mid-2010, we began testing a mode where the GBM directly downloads
full-resolution gamma-ray data even when there is no on-board
trigger, and this allowed us to locate many faint TGFs we had been
missing," said lead researcher Valerie Connaughton, a member of the
GBM team at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). She
presented the findings Wednesday in an invited talk at the American
Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. A paper detailing the
results is accepted for publication in the Journal of Geophysical
Research: Space Physics.

The results were so spectacular that on Nov. 26 the team uploaded new
flight software to operate the GBM in this mode continuously, rather
than in selected parts of Fermi's orbit.

Connaughton's team gathered GBM data for 601 TGFs from August 2008 to
August 2011, with most of the events, 409 in all, discovered through
the new techniques. The scientists then compared the gamma-ray data
to radio emissions over the same period.

Lightning emits a broad range of very low frequency (VLF) radio waves,
often heard as pop-and-crackle static when listening to AM radio. The
World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), a research
collaboration operated by the University of Washington in Seattle,
routinely detects these radio signals and uses them to pinpoint the
location of lightning discharges anywhere on the globe to within
about 12 miles (20 km).

Scientists have known for a long time TGFs were linked to strong VLF
bursts, but they interpreted these signals as originating from
lightning strokes somehow associated with the gamma-ray emission.

"Instead, we've found when a strong radio burst occurs almost
simultaneously with a TGF, the radio emission is coming from the TGF
itself," said co-author Michael Briggs, a member of the GBM team.

The researchers identified much weaker radio bursts that occur up to
several thousandths of a second before or after a TGF. They interpret
these signals as intracloud lightning strokes related to, but not
created by, the gamma-ray flash.

Scientists suspect TGFs arise from the strong electric fields near the
tops of thunderstorms. Under certain conditions, the field becomes
strong enough that it drives a high-speed upward avalanche of
electrons, which give off gamma rays when they are deflected by air
molecules.

"What's new here is that the same electron avalanche likely
responsible for the gamma-ray emission also produces the VLF radio
bursts, and this gives us a new window into understanding this
phenomenon," said Joseph Dwyer, a physics professor at the Florida
Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla., and a member of the study
team.

Because the WWLLN radio positions are far more precise than those
based on Fermi's orbit, scientists will develop a much clearer
picture of where TGFs occur and perhaps which types of thunderstorms
tend to produce them.

The GBM scientists predict the new operating mode and analysis
techniques will allow them to catch about 850 TGFs each year. While
this is a great improvement, it remains a small fraction of the
roughly 1,100 TGFs that fire up each day somewhere on Earth,
according to the team's latest estimates.

Likewise, TGFs detectable by the GBM represent just a small fraction
of intracloud lightning, with about 2,000 cloud-to-cloud lightning
strokes for every TGF.

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle
physics partnership and is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md. Fermi was developed in collaboration with
the U.S. Department of Energy, with important contributions from
academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Sweden and the United States.

The GBM Instrument Operations Center is located at the National Space
Science Technology Center in Huntsville, Ala. The GBM team includes a
collaboration of scientists from UAH, NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial
Physics in Germany and other institutions.

For images and video related to this story, please visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/TCzfMB

For more information about NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 02/14/2013 08:12 pm: RELEASE: 13-052

NASA'S FERMI PROVES SUPERNOVA REMNANTS PRODUCE COSMIC RAYS

WASHINGTON -- A new study using observations from NASA's Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals the first clear-cut evidence the
expanding debris of exploded stars produces some of the
fastest-moving matter in the universe. This discovery is a major step
toward understanding the origin of cosmic rays, one of Fermi's
primary mission goals.

"Scientists have been trying to find the sources of high-energy cosmic
rays since their discovery a century ago," said Elizabeth Hays, a
member of the research team and Fermi deputy project scientist at
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Now we have
conclusive proof supernova remnants, long the prime suspects, really
do accelerate cosmic rays to incredible speeds."

Cosmic rays are subatomic particles that move through space at almost
the speed of light. About 90 percent of them are protons, with the
remainder consisting of electrons and atomic nuclei. In their journey
across the galaxy, the electrically charged particles are deflected
by magnetic fields. This scrambles their paths and makes it
impossible to trace their origins directly.

Through a variety of mechanisms, these speedy particles can lead to
the emission of gamma rays, the most powerful form of light and a
signal that travels to us directly from its sources.

Since its launch in 2008, Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) has
mapped million- to billion-electron-volt (MeV to GeV) gamma-rays from
supernova remnants. For comparison, the energy of visible light is
between 2 and 3 electron volts.

The Fermi results concern two particular supernova remnants, known as
IC 443 and W44, which scientists studied to prove supernova remnants
produce cosmic rays. IC 443 and W44 are expanding into cold, dense
clouds of interstellar gas. These clouds emit gamma rays when struck
by high-speed particles escaping the remnants.

Scientists previously could not determine which atomic particles are
responsible for emissions from the interstellar gas clouds because
cosmic ray protons and electrons give rise to gamma rays with similar
energies. After analyzing four years of data, Fermi scientists see a
distinguishable feature in the gamma-ray emission of both remnants.
The feature is caused by a short-lived particle called a neutral
pion, which is produced when cosmic ray protons smash into normal
protons. The pion quickly decays into a pair of gamma rays, emission
that exhibits a swift and characteristic decline at lower energies.
The low-end cutoff acts as a fingerprint, providing clear proof that
the culprits in IC 443 and W44 are protons.

The findings will appear in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

"The discovery is the smoking gun that these two supernova remnants
are producing accelerated protons," said lead researcher Stefan Funk,
an astrophysicist with the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics
and Cosmology at Stanford University in Calif. "Now we can work to
better understand how they manage this feat and determine if the
process is common to all remnants where we see gamma-ray emission."

In 1949, the Fermi telescope's namesake, physicist Enrico Fermi,
suggested the highest-energy cosmic rays were accelerated in the
magnetic fields of interstellar gas clouds. In the decades that
followed, astronomers showed supernova remnants were the galaxy's
best candidate sites for this process.

A charged particle trapped in a supernova remnant's magnetic field
moves randomly throughout the field and occasionally crosses through
the explosion's leading shock wave. Each round trip through the shock
ramps up the particle's speed by about 1 percent. After many
crossings, the particle obtains enough energy to break free and
escape into the galaxy as a newborn cosmic ray.

The supernova remnant IC 443, popularly known as the Jellyfish Nebula,
is located 5,000 light-years away toward the constellation Gemini and
is thought to be about 10,000 years old. W44 lies about 9,500
light-years away toward the constellation Aquila and is estimated to
be 20,000 years old. Each is the expanding shock wave and debris
formed when a massive star exploded.

The Fermi discovery builds on a strong hint of neutral pion decay in
W44 observed by the Italian Space Agency's AGILE gamma ray
observatory and published in late 2011.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle
physics partnership. Goddard manages Fermi. The telescope was
developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, with
contributions from academic institutions and partners in the United
States France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Sweden.

For images and a video related to this finding, please visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/Yp14cJ

For more information about NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and
its mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: catdlr on 04/30/2013 07:35 pm: NASA | Fermi's Close Call with a Soviet Satellite

Published on Apr 30, 2013
NASA scientists don't often learn that their spacecraft is at risk of crashing into another satellite. But when Julie McEnery, the project scientist for NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, checked her email on March 29, 2012, she found herself facing this precise situation.
While Fermi is in fine shape today, continuing its mission to map the highest-energy light in the universe, the story of how it sidestepped a potential disaster offers a glimpse at an underappreciated aspect of managing a space mission: orbital traffic control.
As McEnery worked through her inbox, an automatically generated report arrived from NASA's Robotic Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) team based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. On scanning the document, she discovered that Fermi was just one week away from an unusually close encounter with Cosmos 1805, a dead Cold-War era spy satellite.
The two objects, speeding around Earth at thousands of miles an hour in nearly perpendicular orbits, were expected to miss each other by a mere 700 feet.
Although the forecast indicated a close call, satellite operators have learned the hard way that they can't be too careful. The uncertainties in predicting spacecraft positions a week into the future can be much larger than the distances forecast for their closest approach.
With a speed relative to Fermi of 27,000 mph, a direct hit by the 3,100-pound Cosmos 1805 would release as much energy as two and a half tons of high explosives, destroying both spacecraft.
The update on Friday, March 30, indicated that the satellites would occupy the same point in space within 30 milliseconds of each other. Fermi would have to move out of the way if the threat failed to recede. Because Fermi's thrusters were designed to de-orbit the satellite at the end of its mission, they had never before been used or tested, adding a new source of anxiety for the team.
By Tuesday, April 3, the close approach was certain, and all plans were in place for firing Fermi's thrusters. Shortly after noon EDT, the spacecraft stopped scanning the sky and oriented itself along its direction of travel. It then parked its solar panels and tucked away its high-gain antenna to protect them from the thruster exhaust.
The maneuver was performed by the spacecraft based on previously developed procedures. Fermi fired all thrusters for one second and was back doing science within the hour.
In 2012, the Goddard CARA team participated in collision-avoidance maneuvers for seven other missions. A month before the Fermi conjunction came to light, Landsat 7 dodged pieces of Fengyun-1C, a Chinese weather satellite deliberately destroyed in 2007 as part of a military test. And in May and October, respectively, NASA's Aura and CALIPSO Earth-observing satellites took steps to avoid fragments from Cosmos 2251, which in 2009 was involved in the first known satellite-to-satellite collision with Iridium 33.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npVgLM7Zd3M
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 08/21/2013 06:59 pm: RELEASE 13-259

NASA's Fermi Celebrates Five Years in Space, Enters Extended Mission

During its five-year primary mission, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has given astronomers an increasingly detailed portrait of the universe's most extraordinary phenomena, from giant black holes in the hearts of distant galaxies to thunderstorms on Earth.

But its job is not done yet. On Aug. 11, Fermi entered an extended phase of its mission -- a deeper study of the high-energy cosmos. This is a significant step toward the science team's planned goal of a decade of observations, ending in 2018.

"As Fermi opens its second act, both the spacecraft and its instruments remain in top-notch condition and the mission is delivering outstanding science," said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's astrophysics division in Washington.

Fermi has revolutionized our view of the universe in gamma rays, the most energetic form of light. The observatory's findings include new insights into many high-energy processes, from rapidly rotating neutron stars, also known as pulsars, within our own galaxy, to jets powered by supermassive black holes in far-away young galaxies.

The Large Area Telescope (LAT), the mission's main instrument, scans the entire sky every three hours. The state-of-the-art detector has sharper vision, a wider field of view, and covers a broader energy range than any similar instrument previously flown.

"As the LAT builds up an increasingly detailed picture of the gamma-ray sky, it simultaneously reveals how dynamic the universe is at these energies," said Peter Michelson, the instrument's principal investigator and a professor of physics at Stanford University in California.

Fermi's secondary instrument, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), sees all of the sky at any instant, except the portion blocked by Earth. This all-sky coverage lets Fermi detect more gamma-ray bursts, and over a broader energy range, than any other mission. These explosions, the most powerful in the universe, are thought to accompany the birth of new stellar-mass black holes.

"More than 1,200 gamma-ray bursts, plus 500 flares from our sun and a few hundred flares from highly magnetized neutron stars in our galaxy have been seen by the GBM," said principal investigator Bill Paciesas, a senior scientist at the Universities Space Research Association's Science and Technology Institute in Huntsville, Ala.

The instrument also has detected nearly 800 gamma-ray flashes from thunderstorms. These fleeting outbursts last only a few thousandths of a second, but their emission ranks among the highest-energy light naturally occurring on Earth.

One of Fermi's most striking results so far was the discovery of giant bubbles extending more than 25,000 light-years above and below the plane of our galaxy. Scientists think these structures may have formed as a result of past outbursts from the black hole -- with a mass of 4 million suns -- residing in the heart of our galaxy.

To build on the mission's success, the team is considering a new observing strategy that would task the LAT to make deeper exposures of the central region of the Milky Way, a realm packed with pulsars and other high-energy sources. This area also is expected to be one of the best places to search for gamma-ray signals from dark matter, an elusive substance that neither emits nor absorbs visible light. According to some theories, dark matter consists of exotic particles that produce a flash of gamma rays when they interact.

"Over the next few years, major new astronomical facilities exploring other wavelengths will complement Fermi and give us our best look yet into the most powerful events in the universe," said Julie McEnery, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership. Goddard manages the mission. The telescope was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, with contributions from academic institutions and partners in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Sweden.

For images and video related to this release, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/1f2vYAm

For more information about Fermi, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 08/01/2014 08:52 am: July 31, 2014

NASA's Fermi Space Telescope Reveals New Source of Gamma Rays

Observations by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope of several stellar eruptions, called novae, firmly establish these relatively common outbursts almost always produce gamma rays, the most energetic form of light.

"There's a saying that one is a fluke, two is a coincidence, and three is a class, and we're now at four novae and counting with Fermi," said Teddy Cheung, an astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, and the lead author of a paper reporting the findings in the Aug. 1 edition of the journal Science.

A nova is a sudden, short-lived brightening of an otherwise inconspicuous star caused by a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a white dwarf, a compact star not much larger than Earth. Each nova explosion releases up to 100,000 times the annual energy output of our sun. Prior to Fermi, no one suspected these outbursts were capable of producing high-energy gamma rays, emission with energy levels millions of times greater than visible light and usually associated with far more powerful cosmic blasts.

Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) scored its first nova detection, dubbed V407 Cygni, in March 2010. The outburst came from a rare type of star system in which a white dwarf interacts with a red giant, a star more than a hundred times the size of our sun. Other members of the same unusual class of stellar system have been observed "going nova" every few decades.

In 2012 and 2013, the LAT detected three so-called classical novae which occur in more common binaries where a white dwarf and a sun-like star orbit each other every few hours.

"We initially thought of V407 Cygni as a special case because the red giant's atmosphere is essentially leaking into space, producing a gaseous environment that interacts with the explosion's blast wave," said co-author Steven Shore, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Pisa in Italy. "But this can't explain more recent Fermi detections because none of those systems possess red giants."

Fermi detected the classical novae V339 Delphini in August 2013 and V1324 Scorpii in June 2012, following their discovery in visible light. In addition, on June 22, 2012, the LAT discovered a transient gamma-ray source about 20 degrees from the sun. More than a month later, when the sun had moved farther away, astronomers looking in visible light discovered a fading nova from V959 Monocerotis at the same position.

Astronomers estimate that between 20 and 50 novae occur each year in our galaxy. Most go undetected, their visible light obscured by intervening dust and their gamma rays dimmed by distance. All of the gamma-ray novae found so far lie between 9,000 and 15,000 light-years away, relatively nearby given the size of our galaxy.

Novae occur because a stream of gas flowing from the companion star piles up into a layer on the white dwarf's surface. Over time -- tens of thousands of years, in the case of classical novae, and several decades for a system like V407 Cygni -- this deepening layer reaches a flash point. Its hydrogen begins to undergo nuclear fusion, triggering a runaway reaction that detonates the accumulated gas. The white dwarf itself remains intact.

One explanation for the gamma-ray emission is that the blast creates multiple shock waves that expand into space at slightly different speeds. Faster shocks could interact with slower ones, accelerating particles to near the speed of light. These particles ultimately could produce gamma rays.

"This colliding-shock process must also have been at work in V407 Cygni, but there is no clear evidence for it," said co-author Pierre Jean, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Toulouse in France. This is likely because gamma rays emitted through this process were overwhelmed by those produced as the shock wave interacted with the red giant and its surroundings, the scientists conclude.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. It was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, with contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States.

For more information about Fermi, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: eeergo on 02/12/2016 09:37 am: Cross-referencing here from the gravitational wave thread, as this possible GRB coincidence was seen by Fermi.

http://gammaray.nsstc.nasa.gov/gbm/publications/preprints/gbm_ligo_preprint.pdf
Title: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: Star One on 04/18/2016 08:36 pm: NASA's Fermi Telescope Poised to Pin Down Gravitational Wave Sources

On Sept. 14, waves of energy traveling for more than a billion years gently rattled space-time in the vicinity of Earth. The disturbance, produced by a pair of merging black holes, was captured by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) facilities in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. This event marked the first-ever detection of gravitational waves and opens a new scientific window on how the universe works.

Less than half a second later, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope picked up a brief, weak burst of high-energy light consistent with the same part of the sky. Analysis of this burst suggests just a 0.2-percent chance of simply being random coincidence. Gamma-rays arising from a black hole merger would be a landmark finding because black holes are expected to merge “cleanly,” without producing any sort of light.

“This is a tantalizing discovery with a low chance of being a false alarm, but before we can start rewriting the textbooks we’ll need to see more bursts associated with gravitational waves from black hole mergers,” said Valerie Connaughton, a GBM team member at the National Space, Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and lead author of a paper on the burst now under review by The Astrophysical Journal.

Detecting light from a gravitational wave source will enable a much deeper understanding of the event. Fermi's GBM sees the entire sky not blocked by Earth and is sensitive to X-rays and gamma rays with energies between 8,000 and 40 million electron volts (eV). For comparison, the energy of visible light ranges between about 2 and 3 eV.

With its wide energy range and large field of view, the GBM is the premier instrument for detecting light from short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which last less than two seconds. They are widely thought to occur when orbiting compact objects, like neutron stars and black holes, spiral inward and crash together. These same systems also are suspected to be prime producers of gravitational waves.

"With just one joint event, gamma rays and gravitational waves together will tell us exactly what causes a short GRB," said Lindy Blackburn, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. "There is an incredible synergy between the two observations, with gamma rays revealing details about the source's energetics and local environment and gravitational waves providing a unique probe of the dynamics leading up to the event." He will be discussing the burst and how Fermi and LIGO are working together in an invited talk at the American Physical Society meeting in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.

Currently, gravitational wave observatories possess relatively blurry vision. This will improve in time as more facilities begin operation, but for the September event, dubbed GW150914 after the date, LIGO scientists could only trace the source to an arc of sky spanning an area of about 600 square degrees, comparable to the angular area on Earth occupied by the United States.

“That's a pretty big haystack to search when your needle is a short GRB, which can be fast and faint, but that’s what our instrument is designed to do," said Eric Burns, a GBM team member at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. "A GBM detection allows us to whittle down the LIGO area and substantially shrinks the haystack."

Less than half a second after LIGO detected gravitational waves, the GBM picked up a faint pulse of high-energy X-rays lasting only about a second. The burst effectively occurred beneath Fermi and at a high angle to the GBM detectors, a situation that limited their ability to establish a precise position. Fortunately, Earth blocked a large swath of the burst’s likely location as seen by Fermi at the time, allowing scientists to further narrow down the burst’s position.

The GBM team calculates less than a 0.2-percent chance random fluctuations would have occurred in such close proximity to the merger. Assuming the events are connected, the GBM localization and Fermi's view of Earth combine to reduce the LIGO search area by about two-thirds, to 200 square degrees. With a burst better placed for the GBM’s detectors, or one bright enough to be seen by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope, even greater improvements are possible.

The LIGO event was produced by the merger of two relatively large black holes, each about 30 times the mass of the sun. Binary systems with black holes this big were not expected to be common, and many questions remain about the nature and origin of the system.

Black hole mergers were not expected to emit significant X-ray or gamma-ray signals because orbiting gas is needed to generate light. Theorists expected any gas around binary black holes would have been swept up long before their final plunge. For this reason, some astronomers view the GBM burst as most likely a coincidence and unrelated to GW150914. Others have developed alternative scenarios where merging black holes could create observable gamma-ray emission. It will take further detections to clarify what really happens when black holes collide.

Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity a century ago, and scientists have been attempting to detect them for 50 years. Einstein pictured these waves as ripples in the fabric of space-time produced by massive, accelerating bodies, such as black holes orbiting each other. Scientists are interested in observing and characterizing these waves to learn more about the sources producing them and about gravity itself.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States.

For more information about NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, please visit:

www.nasa.gov/fermi

Francis Reddy
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

Last Updated: April 18, 2016
Editor: Ashley Morrow

https://youtu.be/9W9GInWeFcM

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasas-fermi-telescope-poised-to-pin-down-gravitational-wave-sources
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: catdlr on 02/09/2017 08:18 pm: NASA's Fermi space telescope detected new solar flares

Published on Feb 9, 2017
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope can now detect solar flares occurring on the side of the sun it cannot see. This could help scientists better understand solar storms and improve forecasts for future outbursts.

Video courtesy of NASA

https://youtu.be/fL7e2e7IDec?t=001

https://youtu.be/fL7e2e7IDec
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: Star One on 05/16/2017 07:19 pm: Fermi satellite observes billionth gamma ray

https://astronomynow.com/2017/05/16/fermi-satellite-observes-billionth-gamma-ray/
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: Star One on 02/22/2018 08:27 pm: Novel search strategy advances the hunt for primordial black holes

Quote
Some theories of the early universe predict density fluctuations that would have created small "primordial black holes," some of which could be drifting through our galactic neighborhood today and might even be bright sources of gamma rays.

Researchers analyzing data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope for evidence of nearby primordial black holes have come up empty, but their negative findings still allow them to put an upper limit on the number of these tiny black holes that might be lurking in the vicinity of Earth.

https://news.ucsc.edu/2018/02/primordial-black-holes.html
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: eeergo on 07/10/2018 03:25 pm: Word is coming out that the IceCube neutrino detector in Antarctica has detected high-energy neutrinos correlated with a GRB, adding a new critical piece to multi-messenger astronomy.

GRB was detected by FERMI and AGILE in the TXS 0506+056 blazar region, as well as by MAGIC on the ground.

NSF press conference on Thursday (11 am EDT): https://twitter.com/NSF/status/1016413039086784512
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jgoldader on 07/10/2018 06:23 pm: Might be related to this; if it is, the neutrino is from a gamma ray *source*, a BL Lac (a type of active galaxy), not necessarily a GRB.

https://sciencesprings.wordpress.com/tag/active-galaxy-txs-0506-056/

Still, it's interesting. Wouldn't this be just the second extragalactic object, after SN 1987A, identified as a neutrino source? And the third astrophysical source overall, including the Sun?
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: eeergo on 07/12/2018 04:22 pm: Confirmation of the first multi-messenger observation of a high-energy neutrino (IC-170922A of 0.29 PeV at 90% c.l., by IceCube (https://icecube.wisc.edu/gallery/press/view/2239)) and EM waves source (by Fermi (https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=295955), MAGIC (https://www.mpg.de/12131369/magic-telescopes-neutrino) and a (negative) follow-up by INTEGRAL (http://sci.esa.int/integral/60492-integral-joins-multi-messenger-campaign-to-study-high-energy-neutrino-source/)): blazar TXS 0506+056.

Quote
Fermi was the first telescope to identify enhanced gamma-ray activity from TXS 0506+056 within 0.06 degrees of the IceCube neutrino direction. Over a decade of Fermi observations of this source, this was the strongest flare in gamma rays, the highest-energy photons. A later follow-up by MAGIC detected gamma rays of even higher energies.

High-energy gamma rays can be produced either by accelerated electrons or protons. The observation of a neutrino, a hallmark of proton interactions, is the first definitive evidence of proton acceleration by black holes.

"Now, we have identified at least one source of cosmic rays because it produces cosmic neutrinos," Halzen said. "Neutrinos are the decay products of pions. In order to produce them, you need a proton accelerator."

This also provides the first detection of an astrophysical neutrino point source, apart from the Sun and the only supernova that went off close enough to Earth while neutrino detectors were in operation (SN1987A).

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/high-energy-neutrinos-blazar-icecube (https://www.sciencenews.org/article/high-energy-neutrinos-blazar-icecube)

Paper just out: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/07/11/science.aat1378.full
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 07/13/2018 06:08 am: July 12, 2018
RELEASE 18-062

NASA’s Fermi Traces Source of Cosmic Neutrino to Monster Black Hole

For the first time ever, scientists using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have found the source of a high-energy neutrino from outside our galaxy. This neutrino traveled 3.7 billion years at almost the speed of light before being detected on Earth. This is farther than any other neutrino whose origin scientists can identify.

High-energy neutrinos are hard-to-catch particles that scientists think are created by the most powerful events in the cosmos, such as galaxy mergers and material falling onto supermassive black holes. They travel at speeds just shy of the speed of light and rarely interact with other matter, allowing them to travel unimpeded across distances of billions of light-years.

The neutrino was discovered by an international team of scientists using the National Science Foundation’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. Fermi found the source of the neutrino by tracing its path back to a blast of gamma-ray light from a distant supermassive black hole in the constellation Orion.

“Again, Fermi has helped make another giant leap in a growing field we call multimessenger astronomy,” said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Neutrinos and gravitational waves deliver new kinds of information about the most extreme environments in the universe. But to best understand what they’re telling us, we need to connect them to the ‘messenger’ astronomers know best—light.”

Scientists study neutrinos, as well as cosmic rays and gamma rays, to understand what is going on in turbulent cosmic environments such as supernovas, black holes and stars. Neutrinos show the complex processes that occur inside the environment, and cosmic rays show the force and speed of violent activity. But, scientists rely on gamma rays, the most energetic form of light, to brightly flag what cosmic source is producing these neutrinos and cosmic rays.

“The most extreme cosmic explosions produce gravitational waves, and the most extreme cosmic accelerators produce high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays,” says Regina Caputo of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the analysis coordinator for the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration. “Through Fermi, gamma rays are providing a bridge to each of these new cosmic signals.”

The discovery is the subject of two papers published Thursday in the journal Science. The source identification paper also includes important follow-up observations by the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes and additional data from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and many other facilities.

On Sept. 22, 2017, scientists using IceCube detected signs of a neutrino striking the Antarctic ice with energy of about 300 trillion electron volts—more than 45 times the energy achievable in the most powerful particle accelerator on Earth. This high energy strongly suggested that the neutrino had to be from beyond our solar system. Backtracking the path through IceCube indicated where in the sky the neutrino came from, and automated alerts notified astronomers around the globe to search this region for flares or outbursts that could be associated with the event.

Data from Fermi’s Large Area Telescope revealed enhanced gamma-ray emission from a well-known active galaxy at the time the neutrino arrived. This is a type of active galaxy called a blazar, with a supermassive black hole with millions to billions of times the Sun’s mass that blasts jets of particles outward in opposite directions at nearly the speed of light. Blazars are especially bright and active because one of these jets happens to point almost directly toward Earth.

Fermi scientist Yasuyuki Tanaka at Hiroshima University in Japan was the first to associate the neutrino event with the blazar designated TXS 0506+056 (TXS 0506 for short).

“Fermi’s LAT monitors the entire sky in gamma rays and keeps tabs on the activity of some 2,000 blazars, yet TXS 0506 really stood out,” said Sara Buson, a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at Goddard who performed the data analysis with Anna Franckowiak, a scientist at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron research center in Zeuthen, Germany. “This blazar is located near the center of the sky position determined by IceCube and, at the time of the neutrino detection, was the most active Fermi had seen it in a decade.”

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States. The NASA Postdoctoral Fellow program is administered by Universities Space Research Association under contract with NASA.

For more about NASA’s Fermi mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/fermi
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 07/13/2018 06:08 am: https://youtu.be/kq4u7Sv7GT4
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jacqmans on 07/13/2018 06:08 am: https://youtu.be/vwRSk524dpo
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: jbenton on 11/30/2023 11:14 pm: Fermi team announces the discovery of 300 pulsars:

https://mashable.com/article/nasa-video-space-pulsars#:~:text=Now%2C%20scientists%20using%20the%20agency%27s,city%2Dsized%20lighthouses%20in%20space. (https://mashable.com/article/nasa-video-space-pulsars#:~:text=Now%2C%20scientists%20using%20the%20agency%27s,city%2Dsized%20lighthouses%20in%20space.)
Title: Re: NASA - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope updates
Post by: catdlr on 12/20/2023 08:45 pm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYrpkYgcmHI